Bonds
by Sol Hiryu
Summary: Netto awakes in a new world with nothing but the human hating Forte by his side. The two must reluctantly work together to return to their world, yet can they figure out what a divine being is planning for Netto? COMPLETE
1. Prologue

"Where am I…?"

Netto looked around the area, confused. There was absolutely nothing…literally! He was floating in an area of space, not moving out of confusion. All he saw was white; above, below, and everywhere within his sight. He frowned; how did he get here?

'_I brought you here.'_

Netto head shot up and started to look around frantically. "Who said that!"

The voice chuckled. _'I did.'_

"That doesn't help much if I can't see where you are!" Netto growled out.

'_True,'_ the voice remarked, _'but you can't see me because I'm already around you in the first place.'_

Netto held his head in his hands. "You're not making any sense!" he shouted, exasperated. "Just tell me why you've brought me here so I can wake up from this nightmare!"

'_Oh, so you think this is all a dream, don't you Hikari Netto?" _The voice teased, but to Netto it sounded like it was jeering at him. _'No matter…I am merely curious about the bond between you and your partner.'_

"My partner…?" he repeated in a daze. "You mean Rockman! Why are you so curious about him?" he asked nervously. Not many people knew about the bond between him and Saito. But he was willing to bet that this voice knew several things that shouldn't have been known.

'_Exactly. The bond between you and…what do you humans call them…? Ah yes, your Net Navi has piqued my interest. I have rarely seen a human bond with something that is intangible.' _The voice remarked casually. Netto looked confused for a moment.

"Intangible…? What does that…" He was interrupted by the voice.

'_It means that it isn't real. Your Net Navi isn't an intelligent life form, so I naturally assumed it is an object.'_ The voice explained condescendingly.

Netto was enraged. "Don't you dare call Rockman unintelligent! And he isn't just an object either! He's my brother!" he yelled, not noticing his slip of the tongue.

'_Your brother?' _The voice sounded surprised. Netto immediately cursed himself for saying something without thinking. _'It seems that the human race has progressed far more than I expected…perhaps, too much so…'_ It remarked, mostly to itself.

"What do you mean?" Netto had heard what the voice said; and it unnerved him to hear that from something he couldn't see. Was this thing good or evil? And why was he talking to it in the first place?

'_Hmm…this has given me a great idea…'_ The voice said a bit maliciously. Netto stiffened upon hearing that.

"What are you planning? This better not involve the destruction of the Net Society!" he growled out. Saving the world several times has given him an instinct about stuff people said. That instinct of his was screaming at him to not trust the voice. He frowned; his so-called instinct only deepened his distrust of the voice.

'_Oh no, it doesn't involve that…destroying society right now would lead to unimaginable chaos, and that is something that I tend to avoid.'_ the voice answered, amused at the boy's suspicions. Netto let out a sigh of relief. _'No, this idea of mine involves you.'_ He immediately stiffened again.

"Me? What would you want with me?" he questioned again, getting nervous. Sure, he made plenty of enemies out there; but what would an invisible being, one that he had never even met before or done nothing to, want with him?

'_I wonder…' _the voice started. _'You and your Net Navi are the only ones that share a special bond. Yet…'_ the voice trailed off, as if it were unsure, before resuming. _'I want to see if you can bond with another net navi; one that is…how should I put this…different than your brother. I want to see what makes you so special.'_

"What makes me so special?" Netto repeated, nervously looking around the white expanse. "It's because Rockman and I have gone through everything together, that's why!"

'_Heh.'_ The voice snorted. '_Is that so? Then its all the more reason for me to see if I am right.'_

"And what makes you think that I'll go along with this?" Netto growled out. This thing was insane if it thought he would be all cooperative!

The voice gave out a shrill laugh that hurt his ears. _'Silly little one…' _The voice said in a mocking tone, _'What makes you think I'm giving you a choice in the matter?'_

"You coward!" he yelled out, angry. "Show yourself!" There was another shrill laugh, and Netto saw that the white expanse was growing brighter. It was starting to grow so bright that he had to close his eyes. This proved to be a bad idea as he suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to sleep. _'Rockman…'_ was his last coherent thought before he knew no more.

--

Elsewhere, a certain blue navi was coming out of sleep mode, ready to start another ordinary day...well, as ordinary as it could get for both him and his operator, as the past year and a half had been nothing but chaos. Rockman was counting on today to be at least a normal day. All virus attacks on the net were practically non-existent, and there were no crime syndicates with their insane leaders out there. No, today was going to be a normal day, and Rockman was thankful for it.

But now, he had to overcome his first challenge of the day; waking his operator up.

"Netto-kun, it's time to get up!" he said softly, knowing his first attempt would be futile. It was a routine that he and his operator would go through every single morning. It usually took him three tries to get Netto up, so his first attempt was always done half-heartedly. As usual, there was no response. Rockman sighed.

"Netto-kun, you have to get up now!" he said again, this time a little louder. Most of the time, it would draw some sort of response from the sleeping boy, letting Rockman know that his attempts to wake him were almost successful. However, there was still no response, which puzzled Rockman. Shrugging, he decided to give it one last try.

"Netto-kun, get up now!" he all but yelled, expecting to hear some sort of crash or a flustered boy waking up. When there was still no response, Rockman finally took a closer look at the bed. He was surprised when Netto wasn't in it. Rockman was shocked. "Did he actually get up before I did?" Just the thought of that made him shiver. Heck, he was half-expecting the world to end…or have Blues admit that he was inferior to him.

'_So much for a normal day.'_ he mentally sighed.

Still, Rockman was wary; this was not a normal occurrence. If Netto had gotten up early, then why didn't he take him with him? Unless he was at the bathroom or something…Rockman shrugged, and decided to wait. However, 10 minutes passed by and Netto was nowhere to be seen. Either he was taking a long time in the bathroom or something happened. It was that moment that Haruka came into the room. "Mama," he started with a worried expression on his face, "I can't find Netto anywhere. Is he anywhere else in the house?"

Haruka smiled at him, although Rockman could see a trace of worry etched on her face. "I don't know, Rockman. You want to go check?" Seeing the blue navi nod, she took the PET from the charger and walked through the house. Unfortunately, the search proved fruitless as they checked all the bedrooms, the bathrooms, and even the closets. Haruka's smile disappeared as they couldn't find Netto anywhere inside or outside the house.

"Why don't you try calling Meiru to see if he's over there?" Rockman suggested. She nodded and went off to call the Sakurai residence.

Minutes later, she reappeared looking even more worried. "She said Netto wasn't there, though she sounded surprised that he was up early…Should I try his other friends?" She didn't have to ask twice as Rockman immediately gave her the numbers for Dekao's and Yaito's houses. Unfortunately, they hadn't seen Netto either. Rockman was worried. He spied Haruka with her face in her hands, in the same state as himself.

"Mama…I think you should phone the police. Netto-kun is obiously missing…" he said softly, as if he didn't want to believe it either. Haruka shakily nodded and went back to the phone. "What's going on? Where are you, Netto?" he asked himself as he could do nothing but watch Haruka frantically call the police.

--

Netto awoke with a start, gasping for air. He was sweating profusely, trying to get all the images out of his mind. Calming himself down, he tried to think over what just happened. _'Was it a dream after all? It sure didn't feel like one.'_ He thought, still shaking from the images. _'What was up with that voice, though? That laugh was very creepy…'_ Sighing, he made a move to get up before he noticed two things.

One, he was lying on the floor, and two, he wasn't in his room.

Panicking, he jumped up off the floor and looked around. The dull grey color of the walls met his eyes as he quickly surmised that all of the walls were made of stone. He then spied a steel door at the far end of the room. Quickly going over to it, he tried to open it, but to no avail. However, he kept trying out of panic.

"Stupid…door! Open already!" he grunted as he kept tugging. Eventually, he gave up and sat back down on the floor. He then noted that he was already dressed in his usual clothes, which confused him. _'What's going on? I could've sworn that I was wearing my night-clothes when I went to bed!' _Netto then sighed in frustration. _'I don't even have Rockman with me! How much worse can this get?'_

However, something lying on the floor piqued his interest. He walked over and picked it up to examine it. To his amazement, it was a PET. Curiously, he looked over it. It was the same as Rockmans; same slot-in port, same screen, same everything! Except for the symbol, it was like Rockman's pet.

Netto gazed curiously at the symbol, trying to figure out what Navi this was. He had the odd feeling that he saw this symbol somewhere before. It was a black symbol with a purple elongated 'f' in it. The symbol also had a white slash through it, like it was a scar or something like that…He couldn't figure out whose symbol that was-

'_Wait a minute!'_ His mind screamed. _'I know that symbol! It's…it's…!'_ He looked down at the PET in his now shaking hands.

It was Forte's.

--

A/N: My first major story in a long time…Really, I need to write more.

Anyway, many thanks go out to Quatre Winner for beta-ing for me. Thanks!

Next chapter may come up in a week, or a few days. I don't know…

Anyways, constructive criticism needed and appreciated. I'm still evolving as a writer, so any advice is very much appreciated.


	2. Unlikely Duo

Netto didn't know what to do. In his hands was the PET of someone he would rather not want to see again. He wondered why Forte's PET was there with him at all, since Forte was an independent Navi…

_That's right._ He thought. _Why does Forte have a PET? After all, he hates humans…This isn't making any sense at all!_

Sighing in frustration, Netto got back up from his position on the floor and decided to try and find a way out. He decided to kick and punch at random places on the wall to see if there were any weak spots or hidden switches. He had no such luck, however, as the walls were too solid for him to break through.

Netto looked back at the door. He decided to observe it again to see if there was anything he missed in his panic to get out of the room. Walking over, his eyes scanned the rusty exterior of it before he spotted something.

"An electronic lock!" he exclaimed. "Alright! I can get out of here if I can plug in Rockman and…" he immediately cut off as he remembered his current predicament. Netto's face paled.

He didn't have Rockman. Checking his form over once more, he found that he didn't even have his battlechips with him either. No, the only thing he had on him was Forte's PET, and he wasn't quite sure if he wanted to turn it on. On one hand, he would be able to escape the room and find out where the heck he was. On the other hand, however, Forte wouldn't be so cooperative with him.

He again looked at the lock. He wanted to make sure it was working before he made a decision. If it was off and the door was just stuck, he would be able to open the door by himself eventually. However, if it was on…Netto leaned in to look at it.

"It's working…" he muttered. "Damn." That only left one choice.

Stepping away from the door, Netto looked back down at the black PET. What would happen once he turned it on? He then quickly reminded himself that if he didn't turn it on, then he would be stuck in the room until god knows when. Steeling himself, he brought his hand over the ON switch.

However, before he turned it on, he hesitated once again as his hands hovered over the switch. How was he going to deal with Forte? The navi absolutely despised humans, and he was quite sure that he wouldn't listen to him at all. He wasn't quite sure if he wanted to put up with him for a while.

_Well, I've taken huge risks before this, so what's another one?_ Netto thought as he made his decision.

He turned the PET on.

--

Rockman didn't know what to do. Haruka was in the living room sobbing uncontrollably and the Police were doing nothing! He sighed as he buried his face in his hands. For once in his life he felt useless; Netto was in trouble and he couldn't do a thing! What could he do?

Over the course of the last hour, he received no less then thirty e-mails from concerned friends. However, the most frantic one came from Meiru herself; she was apparently freaking out over Netto's disappearance. Rockman couldn't blame her, as most of everyone in Akihara was troubled about this too. He was so lost in thought that he didn't hear the door open and slam close.

"Haruka! I came as fast I could…" Rockman looked up as he saw the visage of his father, Yuuichirou. Haruka immediately ran over to him and hugged him as she sobbed into his shoulder.

"Oh honey, I don't know what happened! Last night, Netto was here, but now…!" she choked out, gasping for the words to explain the situation. "He wasn't here this morning…Rockman was there, and he didn't see Netto at all…"

"Shh…Dear, it'll be alright. We'll find him." Yuuichirou said in a soothing voice, trying to calm her down. It seemed to work, as Haruka's sobbing subsided. He looked up at the PET on the kitchen counter as he stroked her hair. "Rockman, I need to talk to you later. I need to know what fully happened.

The blue navi was about to point out that he didn't know any more than Haruka did, but he was silenced by the pleading stare that his father gave him. "Yes, papa." he answered reluctantly. Talking about it just made him more depressed.

_Netto-kun…Wherever you are, I hope you are safe._

--

Netto was holding his breath as the PET started up. Everything now counted on Forte's cooperation with him, which he wasn't sure on. He was still thinking on how to talk to him when the PET was finished loading up. Anxiously, he looked downward at the screen.

Sure enough, there was the cloaked navi on the screen. However, he notice that the navi wasn't moving at all…Taking a closer look, he saw that the navi was unconscious. Netto released the breath he had been holding, somewhat relieved. Now he had time to think of a way to appeal to the navi.

He first thought of threatening to break his PET. It would scare Forte into working with him, mainly because the black navi was vulnerable and wouldn't like it. However, he quickly squelched that idea. That would only fuel Forte's hatred of humans and it would make it harder to deal with him. Besides, Netto didn't think that he had the guts to do it.

The second one was to tell him of the situation and hope that he would help. It was a long shot, but it seemed to be the more appealing of the two options available to him. However, Netto didn't dare get his hopes up, seeing as how it all depended on the navi's reaction.

Netto sat down, trying to think of more ideas. Unfortunately, all of them lead back to the main two he had come up with. He resolved that if the second idea didn't work, he would have to resort to the first one. That was something he didn't want to do.

However, he had no more time to think as he heard Forte start to wake up.

"Urgh..." Netto heard the navi moan as he awoke. He subconciously held his breath, waiting for the inevitable.

The cloaked navi finally got up to look at his surroundings. Looking around wildly, he saw that he was trapped inside some sort of area. "Where the HELL am I!" he roared out, dashing to and fro to find a way out like a caged animal. Netto sighed again; he expected this.

"That's what I would like to know too." he muttered loud enough for the navi to hear him. It had the desired effect as Forte looked up to see his face through the screen.

"YOU!"

--

"Alright Rockman..." Yuuichirou started, "I need you to tell me everything you remember before you shut down for the night. And please," he said while holding up a hand to keep Rockman from speaking, "Even if the details are the same from Haruka's story, I still need you to tell me. The more we know, the better."

Rockman sighed. "Yes, papa." He then proceeded to tell Yuuichirou everything from yesterday; everything from Netto waking up until him going to bed. When he finished, the scientist sighed.

"Well, we know he didn't run away." he stated plainly. From what Rockman had told him, there had been no odd behavior problems from his son over the past couple of days. Besides that, he would have taken Rockman with him too.

"But he wasn't kidnapped either, papa! If he was, the house's alarm system would have gone off!" Rockman protested. This didn't make any sense at all!

"True..." he sighed. "However, we can't leave out that possibility. If Netto was kidnapped, then we must assume that the kidnapper was either highly skilled or was able to temporarily disable the house's network." Yuuichirou remarked before burying his face into his hands. "Believe me Rockman, this is as hard for me to deal with as it is with you."

The navi slowly nodded. "I know, papa..."

--

Netto sighed for the umpteenth time. Forte was...being hard to deal with right now. He couldn't even get a word in because the navi had started ranting at him. Deciding he had enough, he turned his attention to the screen. "Forte, be quiet for a second!" he said sharply. He needed his full attention.

Unfortunately, it somewhat backfired. "And why should I listen to you, _human_?" he sneered. Right now, he was in a bad mood. He wakes up in some sort of prison, and now he had that stupid operator of his nemesis, Rockman, as the only company he had. He still wondered how he got there in the first place, though.

Netto was not in the mood to play around. "If you want to find out where we are right now, you will listen to me!" he stated fiercely. "We've been in here for who knows how long and I need your help!"

"Me? Help you? Very amusing, but I won't." Forte snarled. Netto sighed yet again. He knew it would come to this.

"Listen to me for one second!" He growled out. Forte huffed, but he kept his eyes on him to show that he was paying attention. "We'll both be stuck here unless we do something. That's why I propose a truce."

Forte narrowed his eyes. "A truce? What for?" Netto allowed himself a small smile. The difficult part was over, at least.

"Exactly what I said. I need you, and you need me for as long as we are stuck here. So until we can find our way home, we should work together." Netto stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

The navi snorted. "Feh. Work with you? Like I would ever lower myself to do that." he scoffed.

Netto decided it was time to pull out his trump card. "Fine then. However, you'll be stuck in that tiny little PET forever then." he stated. "Look at me! I'm the all powerful Forte! Yet, I can't seem to get out of this PET! What should I do!" Netto mocked. He hoped it would get through to Forte.

Meanwhile, the black navi was looking at the human with a growing visage of anger. Even though he tried to deny it, he knew the human was right. If he didn't accept his help, then he'd be forever stuck in this miserable excuse of a prison. He grudgingly accepted that he had no choice. "Fine. I'll help. However, once we get back, we go our separate ways again." he stated with finality. Netto nodded.

"Alright, now that that is settled...I need you to open the lock on the door so we can get out of here." he said as he stood up and walked to the door. "You ready, Forte?" he asked as he gripped the PET in his hand.

"Yeah." Forte grumbled.

_This is going to be weird._ Netto thought as he brought the PET up. "Plug in! Forte, Transmission!" he said as he fired the beam into the lock. Seconds later, he heard a click as the door opened. He blinked. "That was fast."

"Done. Let's go already, human!" Forte growled. The human frowned.

"Fine, fine. I'm coming fin-head." he remarked as he plugged Forte out. However, that seemed to rile the navi up.

"Fin-head? FIN-HEAD! How dare you, you disgusting human!" he raged. Netto smirked. It seemed he had a sensitive side after all.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't think you'd be so sensitive. Let's see what's out here..." He put the PET back on his waist clip and headed out into the hallway. Everything looked the same as it did inside the room they had been trapped in. There were no windows either, so they couldn't see very well. Netto spent the next five minutes bumping into random walls and cursing. Forte, although amused, eventually grew tired of it.

"Human, try going out to the left. I think the exit is over there." he stated, not at all hiding the amusement he had at Netto's predictament3.

Netto grumbled but did as he was told. Sure enough, he found a door. "Finally." he murmured as he opened the door. He quickly brought up his hands as light flooded into the room, temporarily blinded. When it died down, he opened his eyes. "Well, at least we'll finally know where we are at." he remarked to himself more than to Forte. Taking a deep breath, he walked outside.

"Wha...What! Where the hell are we!" Netto screamed out, disbelieving.

In front of him, everything was in ruin. Streets, cars, and even buildings.

Netto was suddenly very scared.

--

**Next Chapter: **_In this God-Forsaken Land..._: Netto and Forte now find themselves in a world of ruin. Looking for any signs of life, Netto eventually runs across several survivors from the ruined city. To find their way home, the two must now try and work together to find out what happened. Will it be possible for the two, with Netto's headstrong nature and Forte's hatred of humans?**  
**

**-- **

**Author's Notes:**

Blame the crappy formatting for this chapter on WordPad, since I am unable to use Word currently.

Anyway, I'm sorry for the later than planned update. I am preparing for college and I also have several things to do outside of writing. Rest assure, I will do my utmost to write this fic, but it has to take the backseat in order for some other things before I can get to it. This means updates may be slow, so be patient until I write a new chapter.

Special thanks to JK and Quatre for betaing again. Give them thanks!

As before, please leave Constructive Criticism. I need to know if I'm doing anything wrong, so don't hesitate to point things out, no matter how miniscule they are!


	3. In this God Forsaken Land

Netto couldn't believe the sight that was in front of him. Everything was, for a lack of a better term, utterly destroyed.

The streets were cracked and fragmented as far as his eyes could see. The few cars that were on the streets were rusted and broken down. The few buildings he saw were in ruin; if they weren't totally destroyed, they were falling apart. The sky was very dull orange, almost brownish.

"Oh my god…" Netto gasped, trying to make sense of the ruined world before him; "Where the hell are we?" He rubbed his temples to try and ward off the oncoming headache.

_Alright, _he thought, _what is going on? I wake up in some room with no idea how I got there, I somehow have Forte, of all navis, with me, and everything is demolished out here… _Looking around again, he saw no one outside. _What if we are the only ones here?_

"Human!" Forte growled out at last. The brunette snapped out of his daze and took a look at his PET and the snarling navi inside it. "Don't just stand there! Look around!"

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he complied. "Never thought you would be the helpful type…" he muttered lowly so Forte wouldn't hear him. He briefly thought about using his skates, but decided against it; the numerous cracks and fissures in the ground would trip him up. Tentatively, he started walking down the street, looking for any signs of life.

He was unsuccessful. From what he could see, many homes, shops, and other such areas were decimated. Frowning, Netto sat down on a nearby rock to assess his options. "What am I going to do? I don't know where I am, everything out here is messed up, and most of all…" he clutched his stomach, "I'm getting hungry!"

"Typical." Forte snorted. "Yet another human weakness."

Netto growled. "Shut it, fin-head." Forte visibly fumed, but said nothing. "There has to be someone around here...a huge city like this can't be completely deserted, even if it is almost totally destroyed." he muttered.

"Then stop talking and go look already!" the navi yelled out. Netto sighed as he realized that Forte was right.

"Alright then…" Netto murmured as he got up from the rock, "Let's go then!" he exclaimed as he continued down the street. He hoped that someone, or something, would turn up soon.

After what seemed like hours, he had no luck. There just weren't any people around. Netto groaned as he clutched his stomach, his hunger evident. "It's no use…" he muttered in defeat, "We'll never find anyone at this rate." Dropping to his knees, Netto took a good look at the soil underneath him. "Huh? Why is the ground all discolored?" Scooping some of the dirt into his hands, he brought it up to his face for further examination. "The soil…it's all reddish-orange…why?"

Forte chose that moment to cut into his thoughts. "Human!" he snarled, not at all happy at what Netto was currently doing. "We do not have time for you to admire the ground! We have to search for the way to get back! Now get up and start moving!" he all but yelled, very annoyed that he had to temporarily team up with an incompetent fool.

Netto's was about to retort when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Curious, he ignored Forte's ranting to take a closer look. Something was moving around the corner… "Someone is here…" he lightly breathed out. Staying quiet, he smothered the PET into his clothes to keep it quiet, much to Forte's indignation. He then heard a squeak and someone running away from the area; his cue for him to follow.

"What the hell are you doing!" Forte snapped at him when Netto reattached the PET to his clip. The brunette didn't even bother looking at him.

"I just found someone, fin-head!" he replied while running after the figure, all vestiges of hunger forgotten. "I had to shut you up somehow, since you would have scared them off." The navi huffed at the remark, but didn't say anything. "This is our chance to find out what's going on!"

"Then why didn't you just say so?" the navi grumbled before falling silent. Netto continued following the footsteps that the figure had left, determined to know what had happened. Eventually, the footsteps ended a short distance away from a dirty looking building.

"They must be in there…" he muttered. He started to walk towards the building when Forte caught his attention.

"Hold on, human. It's possible that it could be a trap." he stated. Netto smirked at the PET.

"And here I thought you didn't care about me."

Forte growled. "Idiot! Do you think I care even one bit about your well being?" he snarled. "The only reason I am even pointing this out to your thick head is that if something happens to you, I won't be able to get back to where I belong. You got that!"

Sighing, he nodded. Although he wouldn't admit it, Forte was right. It could be a trap…but something told him that he should go in there. "Then what do you think we should do? In case you haven't noticed, this has been the only lead we've had all day! If we don't take this chance now, then it'll be forever before we get back home!" Forte said nothing, but he continued unhindered. "Look Forte, all I'm saying is to trust me on this one. I have a feeling that this isn't a trap."

"And just exactly why should I trust this feeling of yours?" he scoffed. Netto frowned.

"Well, it's either this, or I wander around aimlessly for the next few days until I die of starvation. Then you wouldn't be able to get back to the net, huh?" Forte just scowled in retaliation.

"Fine then, human. Go ahead and get killed for all I care." he growled, turning his back to Netto.

Taking a deep breath, Netto tentatively entered the run-down building. At first, there wasn't anything of interest that he immediately saw. However, just by looking around, he could tell people were here from the sight of footprints. "Alright then, there should still be people here. All I have to do now is find them…" Netto murmured, finally thinking that something has gone right for once.

He spotted a stairway near the back of the room leading to the basement. Silently, he walked over to the stairway, only to pause when he heard a loud slam come from below. Staying still for a few moments, he heard some voices from the bottom of the stairway.

"-I saw…-"

"…What? How-"

"It is possible-"

Unfortunately, he could only hear garbled pieces of the conversation, but it was enough for him to rethink his current plan of action. _Was Forte actually right?_ he thought, his confident mood dampened, _Whoever is down there may already be expecting me. As far as I know, they may not be really friendly…what should I do?_

The people down there were possibly the only ones left in this vicinity. If anyone could help him and Forte, it would probably be the people down below. However, Forte's warning was still clear in his head. Could he really expect them to help him? They could be setting up a trap for him down the stairwell for all he knew. Assessing his options, Netto reluctantly saw that the bad scenario outweighed the good one and turned around to leave.

Forte took this time to snicker, taking in Netto's expression with delight. "Heh…not willing to admit that I might be right, are you?" The brunette glared at the screen.

"Shut up, fin-head." The navi ignored the insult, still preferring to snicker at him, much to Netto's annoyance.

As he was leaving, he suddenly heard someone squeak behind him. Turning around, he saw a little girl staring at him, her eyes wide. She looked no older than 10, and had messy brown hair cascading down her back. Surprised, Netto just stood there; waiting to see who would initiate conversation first. However, the girl immediately got scared and took flight down the stairway.

"Hey, wait!" All fears of a trap forgotten, Netto followed her down into the basement, determined to get some answers. He quickly ran down the hallway, trying to see where the little girl went. Eventually, he found a large steel door somewhere near the middle of the hallway. His breath hitching in his chest, he slowly grabbed the handle and turned it. He then pushed open the door and entered the room, looking for any sign of the girl.

"Who are you, mister?" spoke a sudden voice to his right. Netto jumped up in surprise before turning to face the person who startled him. It was the same little girl from earlier.

"Uh…maybe I should be the one asking that question." he replied. The girl still kept staring at him, making him uncomfortable. He jerked when he heard another voice come out of another part of the room.

"Michiru, what are you…" Netto saw a plump looking woman enter the room, who trailed off when she caught sight of him. He stiffened; what was she going to do to him?

Much to his shock, the woman smiled. "Ah, so you're the one that Michiru told me about! Come on in!"

"What?" he questioned plainly, disbelieving. Forte seemed a bit taken aback as well. The woman ushered them in and closed the door. Netto was stunned; out of all possible outcomes, this was the least expected. "W-wait! Who are you?"

The woman still kept on smiling. "I'm Karin. Nice to meet you, young man." She said as she shook his hand. Netto and Forte blinked in unison.

_She's really…Polite._ he thought, dumbstruck. Well, he might as well return the courtesy. "Well…I'm Hikari Netto. Pleased to meet you." he said as he shook her hand. If possible, Karin's smile widened even more.

"Oh, you're such a polite young man!" she squealed, much to Netto's growing confusion. "Go ahead and make yourself at home, Netto-kun! I'll go whip us up a meal real quickly!" With that, she raced off to the kitchen. Netto and Forte just stared after her.

"What…was that?" Netto slowly questioned, his mind still reeling from just meeting Karin.

Forte shrugged. "Don't ask me, human."

The little girl, Michiru, cleared her throat. "Sorry about that…mama is a little…excited about meeting new people." Netto's gazed at her, still somewhat stunned. "Anyway…I'm Michiru. Pleased to meet you, Netto." she said while smiling.

Netto shook out of his stupor. "Not to be rude or anything…but what exactly is going on here?" he asked. Michiru sighed.

"I'm sorry for not talking to you earlier…but I wanted to tell mama that there was a stranger that needed help." she replied while staring at the ground. "Mama likes helping strangers. She says that she gets joy out of helping people that are lost. She says it's all she can do for some reason…"

Netto's eyes widened but he said nothing. Before he could ask another question, Michiru took his hand and guided him to a wooden table. "Please, take a seat! Mama will be done soon, and then we can talk." she stated, which seemed to relieve Netto in a small way. Sitting down, he nodded at Michiru, who smiled and left for the same room Karin was in.

"I don't like this. They're far too nice." Forte muttered finally. To his slight surprise, Netto nodded.

"I know…" he agreed, "but I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they're just really nice people after all? Besides that, this is our chance to find out what is up. However, I'll be ready if something is up." Forte reluctantly agreed.

Soon enough, Karin came out of the kitchen carrying a huge pot and some utensils for Netto. "Now dear…" she began as she set up a bowl and spoon in front of him. "Eat up! It's my special soup!" Karin beamed as she lifted the pot cover, showing the contents inside. She scooped some of soup inside the bowl and handed it to Netto.

Taking a spoonful of the soup, Netto eyed it carefully. _I hope it isn't poisoned._ he thought warily before taking a sip of it. It tasted somewhat sweet, and it had some sort of odd flavor in there that Netto couldn't explain. He liked it though, so he couldn't complain. "It's good." he finally said.

Karin beamed even more. "Wonderful! Help yourself!" she said before heading back towards the kitchen, presumably to get even more bowls. Netto continued to slowly eat the soup, helping himself to a second bowl when Karin returned with Michiru and a dark-haired man about Karin's height a few minutes later.

"Oh, is this the boy, Karin?" the man questioned. The woman nodded, and the man smiled. "Hello there, young man. I'm Shinta, it's nice to meet you." He said while bowing. Netto just stared at him with the soup spoon still stuck in his mouth.

_They're all so polite, it's freaky…_ he thought while wrenching the spoon from his mouth. Gulping down the soup, he proceeded to introduce himself. "I'm Hikari Netto, sir. Thank you for having me." he said as he got up and bowed. Forte scoffed silently, saying something about stupid human traditions.

Shinta smiled at him. "You are a polite young man…it's rare to see someone like yourself around these parts." he sighed and sat down in the chair opposite of Netto. The other two family members sat next to him as they helped themselves to the soup. The three of them started chatting idly while eating, leaving Netto to his thoughts.

"Human!" Forte quietly hissed, finally having enough of getting nowhere. "Just ask them already!" Netto shot a glare at the PET.

"I know! I'm going to, fin-head! Just give me a minute!" he retorted. Luckily, the family was too distracted by their chatting to notice the bickering between the two. Finally, Netto was able to catch a break in the conversation. "Um…excuse me, Shinta? Can I ask you some questions?"

Shinta looked up, his eyebrows raised. "Sure, go ahead."

Netto fidgeted in his seat, somewhat nervous. "This may sound strange, but…what happened to this city?"

The three family members seemed to freeze. "You don't know?" Michiru asked, disbelieving. When Netto shook his head, the three traded looks with each other.

Shinta leaned down and put his chin in his hands, his eyes slightly narrowed. "Where do you come from, boy?" he asked, his polite demeanor vanishing in an instant. Karin looked worriedly over at him.

Netto visibly stiffened. _Quick, make up a lie! MAKE UP A LIE!_ his mind screamed at him. "Well sir…I come from very far away. I was…for lack of a better term, kidnapped, and I'm now wandering aimlessly." he lied, hoping that they would accept it as truth.

It had its desired effect on both Karin and Michiru, as the woman gasped. "Oh, you poor dear! This must be a terrible experience for you!" Meanwhile, Shinta frowned for a bit before he sat up.

"Alright, I'll take your word for it." he said while smiling. "The truth is…we don't know much about what happened ourselves. It's been like this for as long as we've been alive, probably." Seeing Netto's horrified face, he paused briefly before continuing. "We've also been underground as long as I can remember…so have all the other people of the planet. I suppose whatever catastrophe had happened forced all human beings underground. Maybe it was from too much pollution, or something else. I'm not entirely sure…This is why our skin is so pale." After that remark, Netto took a closer look at the family. Now that he got good look at them, their skin was really pale…like a ghost's. Shinta continued on, uninterrupted.

"Whatever the reason, everyone lives underground. Thankfully, someone managed to find a way to channel electricity underground, so we don't all live in the dark. Eventually, it became safe once again for us to live above ground. However, everyone was so used to living underground at this time that they just stayed there. People nowadays only go up to the surface to either look around or work in specialized areas." Shinta finished his explanation and took a sip of water, his throat dry from the long explanation.

Netto was dumbstruck. "So…the city has always been like this, basically?" Seeing the man nod, he slumped in his chair. "Oh man…this isn't getting me anywhere." he muttered quietly. However, he then had an idea. "Hey, Shinta? Do you know where any kinds of records are stored?"

Shinta frowned again. "Unfortunately, all documents regarding what happened have been destroyed as far as I know." Netto's face fell visibly. "However…" he started, which got his attention, "I think that the old building near the destroyed tower may have some information." Netto visibly brightened up.

"Really?" he asked. Shinta nodded.

"It's possible. Many people believe that place is cursed, which is why no one will get near it. I'm fairly certain it hasn't been looted yet, either. I guess not many people are desperate enough to try…" he stopped talking when he saw the boy get up.

"May I ask where the destroyed tower is, sir?" he questioned, his face serious. Shinta seemed to recognize this and decided to truthfully answer.

"So, you would go anyway, not caring about if there was any danger involved?" he asked. When he saw Netto nod, he closed his eyes and sighed. "Alright then. The destroyed tower is about two hours north of here. However, I would be careful out there. No telling what may happen nowadays." He warned before falling silent.

"When do you plan to leave, Netto?" Michiru shyly asked. Netto smiled in her direction.

"Probably in a few minutes. I want to get going as soon as possible." he answered calmly, even though he was still unnerved by what he had been told. Michiru squeaked and ran from her chair to somewhere else in the underground house. Karin also proceeded to get up.

"I'm going to go pack you some canteens of water and some soup. It's a long trip, so you need all that you can get!" she said cheerfully as she made her way out of the room. Netto looked down at Shinta, slightly exasperated.

"She's very overbearing, isn't she?" Shina nodded.

"Yes, at times she is…" he agreed. Suddenly, his face hardened and he stood up, slightly scaring Netto. "Now Netto, it's time for you to tell me the truth. Why are you here?"

His eyes went wide. "H-how did you…?"

Shinta snorted. "It was easy enough. The discrepancies within your story were very easy to spot, and anyone who is anyone would know that no one asks what happened to this place. Now, out with it." he said, the last part coming out as a growl.

Netto saw no other choice. He proceeded to tell Shinta everything; from when he woke up in a strange room to the time he saw Michiru and followed her. He left out the part involving Forte, seeing as he wasn't sure about how they would react. At the end, Shinta nodded. "Alright, so you're a far ways from home and have no idea where you are…" he sighed. "At this point, I guess your only choice at this moment is to go to the building I mentioned. I see no other way than that."

Netto sighed in relief. "Thank you, sir. I appreciate it." Shinta smiled.

"Don't get me wrong, boy. I'm very protective about my family. Just be thankful that I was the only one who caught on to your lie. Had it been anyone else…" he trailed off to drive the point in. Netto gulped and nodded hastily.

At this moment, Karin came back into the room with a bag. "Here you go dear! Three canteens of water and a thermos of soup! Take care out there, Netto-kun!" she smiled cheerfully and handed him the bag before heading back into the other room. Shinta sighed again.

"Alright then, be careful. You don't know what may happen, especially around here. And…" he trailed off, as if reluctant. "If you can, get back here as soon as you can. You can rest if you need to afterwards." he stated with a smile.

Netto smiled back at him. "Don't worry, I will." Netto turned to leave out the door. However, before he could, Michiru came running up to him.

"Wait…please. Take this…" she said as quietly as she could. She handed him a wrapped bundle of cloth, with numerous things inside it. "Open it when you really need to…" Michiru blushed and ran back the way she came, leaving a confused Netto.

Shaking his head, Netto decided it was time to go. "I'll be back as soon as possible, Shinta…I promise." With that, he opened the door that led to the murky hallway and left towards the stairwell leading to the surface.

--

"Great job, human." Netto jumped; he forgot Forte had not spoken in some time. It was hard to tell if the navi's voice was either praising him or mocking him, though. "We didn't really learn much at all! Now we're going to some abandoned place for some information which may not even be true!"

"Well, it's better than nothing fin-head!" he growled as he made his way out of the building and into the outside world. "At least we have a lead on somewhere to go. If he really wanted to, he could've withheld the information from us. Then where would we be?" he questioned, already annoyed with Forte.

"I suppose…" Forte huffed. The human had a point. "But nevertheless, this can be an elaborate trap set up to kill you. He knew you were lying the minute you said something, so it's highly possible. I'm surprised those females ate that lie up! I hope you don't think you're such a smooth talker, human, because you're not."

Netto frowned as he walked along. Forte had just hit upon all the points he was worried about. Shinta was a smart person; he knew that just by speaking with him. It probably wouldn't be out of his league to do something like this. However, on the other hand, he wasn't about to get suspicious of a person he just met. Shinta was friendly enough when he felt unthreatened, after all. And even when he knew he was lying, he still gave out the location of where he could find out some information.

Netto sighed. _I'll decide what to do when I get there._ he resolved, and continued on the long path leading to the tower. "Fin-head, we're going anyway. We'll take a look, and then decide on what to do."

Forte fumed. "Stop calling me that accursed name!" Netto chuckled at the navi's reaction. The next two hours of walking were going to be fun…

--

_Well, I wasn't expecting the walk to be that boring._ Netto thought as he finally got to the destroyed tower a few hours later. Indeed, it was a very boring walk, since Forte didn't want to talk unless Netto provoked him. The majority of the time was spent in silence, with Netto trying to make idle chat as he walked, but Forte would not even talk to him.

They had arrived at the site fairly early, since Netto only took two rests from walking so long. Even now his legs hurt, but he had something more important to do than sit around. Looking around, he spotted the building Shinta talked about; it was the only one even near the tower.

"Well, there it is…" he stated tiredly. "All we have to do is to get the information from there and get back to Shinta's place." Forte grunted.

"Do I even have to remind you it could be a trap?" the navi remarked. Netto shook his head.

"No, you don't. I've already decided that we're going in there. I don't care if it's a trap or not, we really need to see if there is something inside that could help us." Forte said nothing.

A few minutes later found Netto at the entrance to the ruined building. Looking around the doorway, he found a ruined plaque to the right of it. Leaning in to get a closer look, Netto found it had some discernable words on it. "I can't read this first word…it's far too ruined. But this second one…" Netto gazed even closer to look at the word. "…Labs? Then this building is…!" he gasped, looking through the entryway.

"What are you so excited about, human?" Forte sneered. Netto stared back down at the PET, slightly breathless.

"Don't you get it, fin-head? This place used to be a lab! Labs usually have computers, which is perfect! Maybe the information is stored somewhere in the computers…" he trailed off, looking at Forte.

The navi blinked. "What are you…" Realization dawned on him as he immediately growled. "So, you'll have me do it? Typical…Humans never do anything for themselves." Netto frowned.

"You have to understand, Forte…You can get into a computer system or server easily. I can't. And even if I could access a working computer, if there is no monitor, I'm stuck." he reasoned. Forte narrowed his eyes.

"Fine then." he spat. "But this is only because we have made an agreement, understood? Even when I am in the system, you can't help me anyway." Forte scoffed.

Netto was about to retort to that, but then winced as he remembered that he didn't have any battle chips on him. "You're right…" he muttered softly. "Let's keep going."

Netto warily made his way into the lab, keeping a lookout for anything of interest. After a few minutes of wandering around the dark place, he found his way to a room in the back. Taking a look around, it seemed that everything was destroyed. Scanning the room, he found a large computer with a large wall screen near the back. He ran over to the computer, his heart racing. Netto quickly found the power switch, his fingers ghosting over the button.

_Please turn on, please turn on…_ he chanted in his head as he pressed the button. At first, there was no response. Then, just as Netto's patience was about to give way, the machine gave a loud hum and turned on. "Yes!" he crowed in triumph; something actually went his way for once! Immediately, he started searching for any plug-in ports that he could use.

After a few minutes of searching, he finally found one near the front end of the server. "Alright," he breathed, "Let's do this. You ready, Forte?" He heard a grunt from the navi, signifying that he was ready. Netto unhooked the PET from its clip and brought it in front of him.

"Plug in! Forte, Transmission!" he yelled as he shot the infrared beam at the port. After a few seconds of inactivity, Forte appeared on the screen. "Forte! Can you read me loud and clear?" he asked a bit loudly.

"Yes, I can. You don't have to be so loud, human." he replied back with a slight sneer. Netto just let that pass since it wasn't the time for it.

"Good…" he sighed in relief. "Now, we have to find any sort of data that can help us…I really hope there is some inside this computer. Forte, could you…"

"I'll find them." Forte cut in before Netto could finish, "I don't need orders from you." he said before floating through the computer pathways. The brunette just sighed again.

After about a half hour of searching, the black navi still couldn't find anything. "There's nothing around here!" he said in frustration, "We are wasting our time in here! Human, get me out of here!" Netto was just about to plug-out Forte when he noticed something on the screen.

"Hey, Forte…did you check over that way?" he questioned, curious as how that path got there. The navi looked over to where Netto was pointing and narrowed his eyes.

"That path wasn't there before…" he said, annoyed. Nevertheless, he floated along the new path, searching for anything of relevance. Eventually, he stopped on a wide platform when he finally saw what he was looking for.

"Ah…that's some documented data! I think that's what we were looking for!" Netto said, excited.

Forte snorted. "Finally, we can get out of this dark place." he started to head towards the data when Netto's voice rang out.

"Forte, behind you!" his voice screamed out, obviously startled by something appearing. The navi immediately turned around and was greeting with the sight of a large black…thing.

'Thing' was too kind, as it was in the shape of a large, black, and horribly ugly wolf virus. It had two heads; both of them staring down Forte and their mouths were slobbering all over the place. Its fur was unruly and spiked; its paws large with wicked looking claws. To top it all off, its tail was long and sharp; almost like a sword's.

Forte smirked. He had been waiting for a chance to destroy something, and this beast was his lucky victim. This would be fun…

The wolf took first initiative by pouncing towards the navi. Forte quickly dodged out of the way, and started to prepare his Shooting Buster. However, he wasn't expecting the virus to recover so quickly and pounce at him again. He was able to dodge again, but he lost the charge on his Shooting Buster and had to start over. Growling, he charged it once again and fired it at the wolf virus multiple times. However, to both his and Netto's shock, the virus merely shrugged it off and charged at Forte again. This time, it was able to land a direct hit with its paw, sending Forte careening back.

Fortunately, he was able to recover quickly. "Forte, this isn't a normal virus! If it was able to shrug off your Shooting Buster so easily, then you have to be careful!" came Netto's voice from a pop-up screen. "This thing is possibly on par with the Dream Virus and Gospel!"

"Gee, thanks for pointing that out! I didn't notice!" he shot back sarcastically. Deciding to use a different method, Forte prepared another Shooting Buster and charged right at the virus. Just as the he got near the wolf, he jumped up towards one of its heads and let the buster off right between the eyes.

The virus howled in pain as one of the head's eyes became useless. Forte landed right behind the virus, smirking. Unfortunately, that was a bad move as the virus now saw red. Swishing its tail, the wolf suddenly came down in Forte's direction. Surprised, he managed to dodge just in time, but not before it caught and tore off part of his cloak.

Forte snarled; that blow had come too close. "Alright, no more playing around!" he shouted before charging up some energy in his right arm. This time, the virus leaped at him, its claws extended to tear him to shreds. Forte quickly jumped up in the air and struck just as the wolf was recovering. "Earth Breaker!" he shouted, aiming the concentrated energy down at the wolf. However, the virus managed to shift away at the last minute, but not without taking damage.

The Earth Breaker slammed into one of its hind legs, partially destroying it. The wolf let out a howl of great pain, its rear slumping to the ground. This time, Forte didn't dare take any chances and immediately prepared another Earth Breaker.

However, it seemed the wolf was not out of the fight yet as both mouths opened to breathe fire at the navi. _Black fire!_ Forte thought, annoyed that his Earth Breaker didn't even destroy the virus. Forced on the defensive, he immediately leapt back to avoid the flames. However, the virus wasn't done yet as it began shooting high speed fireballs from its mouths. Forte found himself hard pressed to dodge.

Netto watched the battle in growing concern. It seemed that Forte, one of the most powerful navis ever created, was experiencing growing difficulty against a powerful virus. Forte managed to take out one of its hind legs, bit the virus was not giving him any more chances to strike. _What am I going to do! Forte's in trouble and I can't do a damn thing about it!'_ he thought as he started looking for anything to help him. After a few seconds of searching, he pulled out the bundle that Michiru gave to him. _'She said to open this when I really needed to…which may be right now!_ Immediately, he opened the cloth bundle to see some various items. Most of them looked useless, however…

"A battle chip!" he gasped, quickly picking it up. How had Michiru known that he would need this? Quickly turning it around, he stared in shock at what chip it was. "No way…" Shaking himself out of his stupor, he turned back to the PET. "Forte! I'm going to help!"

The navi was still dodging the relentless fireball attacks, but it seemed one had grazed his side slightly. "Oh yeah?" he retorted, "What are you going to do? You can't do anything right now!"

Netto smirked. "I'm going to give you something that will allow you to delete the virus." Taking the battle chip within his fingers, he brought it up to his PET. "Battle chip! Dream Aura, Slot-In!"

Forte blinked in shock as the familiar purple aura encased his form. His momentary lapse allowed a fireball to strike him. However, he didn't even feel it as the Dream Aura absorbed the attack. Forte slowly smiled as he now had the means to win the battle. "You've given me a lot of trouble, virus…but now, I'll show you what a true wolf looks like…" he said as he formed a cannon in the shape of Gospel. He was preparing for his Vanishing World attack.

The virus seemed to pick up on what was going on, as it shot even more fireballs at the navi. Thanks to the Dream Aura, however, the attacks didn't even get through. The virus started to try and run, which was severely hindered with its destroyed hind leg.

"There's no where to run…" Forte muttered as the Gospel head gathered more energy. "This is the end! VANISHING WORLD!" he cried out as he finally shot the destructive ray of energy at the virus, which could only look at its oncoming death.

The beam hit, and the virus was no more.

Netto sighed in relief. That was a very close battle; he wasn't entirely sure if Forte was going to win. He picked up his PET and looked at Forte, who also knelt down to rest after using the Vanishing World. "Hey Forte…you alright?"

Forte seemed surprised by the concern Netto was showing towards him. "Yes…I am fine…" he muttered loud enough for the operator to hear. The navi also closed his eyes and sighed. "Also…" he didn't want to say it, but he forced himself to. "Thank you… Netto."

Netto allowed himself a smile at that. "You're welcome. Now, did the data survive?" he asked, suddenly remembering it was on the platform. Somehow, it didn't seem as important now than with Forte's survival.

Taking a quick check around, the navi found the data still floating at the edge of the platform. "It seems that the data survived…" Forte took a scan of the data, and scowled at what he found. "It seems most of this data is corrupted…all but two files. What should I do with it?" At this point, Forte was too tired to even argue, so he just decided to ask what he should do.

"Open them." Netto said quickly. Forte nodded and opened both files.

--

_LOG FILE #00489_

_DATE: UNKNOWN_

_It…it has happened…the Environmental System has shut down completely…soon, all of this planet's wrath will fall upon us, destroying civilization. Everything shall fall into chaos. I can't take this…_

_What caused the System to shut down in the first place? All witnesses say there was a weird white light all of a sudden, and the next thing they knew, the Environmental System was receiving critical errors…I don't believe them at the time, but…I'm willing to believe anything now, as long as I can get away from the world…_

_If anyone finds this log…I shall be long dead…after I write this out, I shall fling myself off the tower. I pray for those souls who survive in the future._

…

_END OF LOG_

--

Netto felt slightly sick from reading that log, but at least he had a slight understanding of what happened now. _So, this world had an Environmental System too? But it failed for some reason…I hope the next log is more informative._

--

_LOG FILE #XXXXX_

_DATE: UNKNOWN_

_If anyone is reading this log, read carefully about what I'm about to say._

_The destruction of the planet was intentional. Someone or something hacked their way into the Environmental System and destroyed it before it could be saved. I was there when the odd white light showed up. I was not blinded like the others. I saw the light quickly head over into the system and do something to it which destroyed it. I do not know what it is at this time, nor will I ever know._

_I can imagine that the world is in chaos right now. Whether or not if people have gotten to their feet and are rebuilding their lives…this tragedy will happen again if nothing is done._

_That is why I implore the reader of this document to go to the Environmental System and investigate it. I would think there is something there…something we missed._

_I will be dead when you read this line, for I made sure this document can only be opened afterwards. Please…go to the Environmental System. The coordinates are locater in an attachment at the bottom…_

…_stay safe…_

…

_END OF LOG_

_ATTCH: ESYSTEM-COORDINATES. DOWNLOAD? Y/N_

--

Netto was silent after he read the log. Sighing, he nodded to Forte. "Download the coordinates, Forte. We'll need them later…right now, we must go back to Shinta's and tell him what has happened."

--

Netto had arrived back at Shinta's before night had fallen. The man wanted to ask him what had happened, but Karin stepped in and demanded that he rest since he looked like he was about to faint. Netto gladly agreed, and fell asleep as soon as he hit the bed.

The next morning, Karin prepared an in-bed meal for Netto, which he gladly ate. Afterwards, he found Shinta sitting down at the table, apparently thinking. He snapped out of his daze and turned to the boy. "Yes?"

Netto proceeded to explain what happened at the lab, leaving out the virus battle for obvious reasons. Shinta looked at him wide-eyed. "Did those logs really say that?" he asked. When Netto nodded, he ran a hand through his black hair. "Then I guess…you have to go to the Environmental System then, don't you?" Another nod. "Alright then. I'll go tell Karin about this. Just stay here for one more night; you look like you need the rest.

"Thank you, Shinta." Netto replied while bowing. Shinta just smiled at him in return.

Netto then went to look for Michiru, who he found sitting quietly and humming to herself in another room of the house. She squeaked when she noticed him at last. "N-Netto! I…didn't know you were back!"

"Yeah, I am…" he replied. "Michiru…thank you for the gift. It really helped me." He then drew her into a hug.

She blushed, but said nothing.

That night, a great dinner was held and the four ate together for the last time. That night, Netto knew he would miss these people, even if only knew them for a day. Smiling, he went to sleep, dreaming of all his friends back home.

The following day, Netto departed from Shinta, Karin, and Michiru after a long good-bye. He sadly smiled, but continued on.

"Well, time to go, eh fin-head?" he smirked down at the PET.

Forte smirked right back at him. "Of course, human."

Walking into the horizon, Netto began his long journey home.

--

**Next Chapter:** _Interlude I-Intentions_: Finally, the identity of the voice is known. However, another figure happens to overhear it's intentions and begins their own preparations to stop them. Meanwhile, Enzan learns of Netto's disappearance and races to the Hikari residence for answers.  
--

**Author's Notes**: Alright, I'm sorry for the long delay...again. I've just started school again and have taken on a job, so this fic unfortunately had to take a backseat while I got my affairs in order.

Chapters will be coming out slowly, depending on my schedule. However, don't think that I have abandoned this fic if there has been no update in some time; it just means that it's taking me sligly longer to update than normal.

Anyways, thanks go to Quatre Winner and JK for betaing.


	4. Interlude:Intentions

A figure giggled as it watched the boy known as Hikari Netto and his reluctant partner, Forte, journey to find a way home. It was deeply amusing to the figure; forcing two things that disliked the other together to survive. However, the figure had another purpose; experimenting with humans to see how they adapt.

The figure let off another giggle again, this time a bit malevolently towards the image she was watching. Oh yes, she was going to have fun with these two or else her name isn't Sera!

"Well now…" she yawned as she stood up, "It seems that those two can work together after all." She waved her hand and the image dispersed. "It's not like it's going to make any difference. Not on that ruined world, anyway." Sera chuckled. "It shall be interesting to see how long they'll fare before I'm done with them."

Summoning up another image, she brought forth a close up of Netto's face. Her visage turned into an ugly sneer. "Pitiful little one. Soon enough, you'll realize how insignificant you are…just be honored that you're at last serving a purpose with being my guinea pig." Sera snorted before dispersing the image again. She needed time to plan her next experiment.

She hated humankind with a passion. Sera didn't know when it started, but she knew that she had detested them several thousand years ago. It grew into hatred when humankind seemingly outgrew their worship of the gods and turned to technology instead. Although many people still worshipped them in the present day, it was lackluster in comparison to the mass worship the gods received so long ago. That little fact continued to irk her.

Over time, her hatred of humankind also included the technology they developed, their 'net-navis'. In her own eyes, they were trying to play God; trying to create life even if it wasn't sentient. It always disgusted her whenever she saw the humans trying to talk to the computer programs as if they were real, living beings. She huffed; humans were far too dependent on technology.

A sinister smile suddenly spread on her face. Oh, how she remembered with glee as she finally unleashed some long-awaited vengeance on some world that relieved too heavily on technology. It was a simple task to quickly enter the system that controlled the world and destroy it. Soon enough, nature had unleashed its long suppressed wrath on the human race; killing millions of people and absolutely ravaging the world. By the time the last earthquake had finished, the world was in ruins. Sera took sadistic glee in watching it.

However, she soon got bored after watching the planet for around three decades, when humankind got back up to its feet and started anew.

For the next few years, she was bored. Time was nothing for a goddess such as herself, but all gods were forbidden to go to the past or future no matter what the circumstances. She cursed at that rule; she could've set things up in her favor back then…well, no matter.

There was another world she was targeting, the very same one where she got her 'subjects' from. However, if she did something about that world too, it would draw too much attention onto her and get her in trouble with The Master. However, she figured as long as she only pulled a few people from that world and place them on the other one, no one would notice.

It was relatively simple. She used her powers to transport the human to the other planet. The human had woken up midway, but she merely taunted him and forced him back to sleep. Although she was surprised with the revelation of brother ship between a human and a program, she quickly shrugged it off and continued with her 'experiment'.

The navi, Forte, was a bit harder to subdue, but not by much. The goddess merely had to go into the human's internet and search for the rogue navi. After hours of searching, she found him in the deep parts of the Undernet. Forte didn't even see what was coming as he was knocked unconscious and put into a PET. Sera had then transported it to where the boy, Hikari Netto, was.

Smiling, she got up from her position to hover around. Although she had some fears of The Master or her goody-goody sister finding out, she quickly squashed them. "After all…" she began with a shrill laugh, "what they don't know can't hurt me in the long run."

Her shrill laughter continued until she was completely out of the area. Had Sera been more careful and more observant, however, she would have seen the figure in the shadows behind her.

--

Ijuuin Enzan was not a happy person at the moment. He was forced to wake up extra-early because of a Netbattler meeting, and he was just now getting back to his quarters after the two hour long meeting. He sighed. _Now I know why Hikari hates getting up in the mornings._ he thought, amused at just thinking of the boy's antics. A loud beep suddenly emitted from his PET, but he paid no mind to it. "Blues, open up the new e-mail and tell me what's happening." Enzan said as he poured himself a cup of coffee. He needed the caffeine boost at the moment.

Blues opened up the first e-mail and quickly scanned the contents. His face paled and he quickly read it again. This wasn't good…"Enzan-sama, there is a slight problem…" he trailed off, unsure of what to say next. "It seems that the Netbattler's Association has ordered you to investigate a kidnapping."

Enzan scoffed. "Why should I have to do that? There's the normal police to do that." He replied as he brought the coffee up to his lips to sip.

Blues grimaced. "Not when the one who was kidnapped is Hikari Netto."

Enzan spit out all the coffee in his mouth over the counter. Quickly putting down his coffee and grabbing his PET, he checked the message that was just sent. His face quickly paled as well. "What the hell has happened?" he asked no one in particular as he quickly rushed out of his apartment.

He arrived at the scene no less than an hour later, after catching a ride from one of his chauffeurs. It seemed everyone in town decided to congregate around the Hikari household, making it difficult for him to push through the crowd. Eventually, he made his way up to the police barrier. When he tried getting past, the policemen stopped him, but he impatiently held out his Netbattler license and received the okay to go ahead.

Running into the house, he found both Yuuichirou and Haruka sitting on the couch, talking to a few officers. Tentatively stepping into the room, he coughed to get everyone's attention. "Excuse me officers, but can I get a few minutes alone with them?" Both officers looked reluctant, but they nodded and left the room. Yuuichirou sighed.

"Hello, Enzan-kun. What brings you here?" he asked. The natbattler shook his head.

"I'm here on behalf of the Netbattler's Association. They want me to find out what happened." The doctor sighed; he was expecting something like that.

"Then…let me make some tea while you two talk." Haruka piped up. When her husband looked at her, she sadly smiled. "I have to be strong…for Netto. I'll be back in a few minutes." With that, she left the room to go prepare the tea.

Yuuichirou sighed again. "So, what do you want to know? Keep in mind we don't even know that much."

"Tell me everything from what happened this morning." Enzan stated as he sat down on the couch.

The doctor did just that. He debriefed Enzan on everything including when Rockman found the empty bed until he arrived. When Yuuichirou finished, the young netbattler sat back in his chair. "So…there are no clues to follow right now, then." Enzan stated as he rubbed at his head. He was developing a headache from all that was going on right now.

The doctor nodded. "Right. I would recommend that you go talk to Rockman about all of this…but he seems to have gone to the net right now and won't be back for quite a while. You can wait here, if you wish." he offered, sympathizing with the boy's frustration.

Calming down, he nodded. "Alright, I can wait." At that exact moment, Haruka returned with the tea and passed it out to both males. Aside from the occasional grunt or idle chatter coming from someone, everything was quiet.

_How come everything has to be so difficult with you, Netto?_ Enzan mentally sighed before sipping his tea. He never did get his coffee.

--

Yuna frowned as Sera left the area, still processing over what her sister was doing. _It isn't right…who gave her the right to mess with people's lives as if they were her toys?_ she thought despairingly, seeing as how her sister has been corrupted by her power.

She waved her hand and brought up the image of Hikari Netto and Forte once again. Yuna smiled sadly. "I'm sorry for the mess my sister has gotten you two into…but I'm going to stop her sick experiment and help you two get out of there by anything I can do." Yuna frowned again; the laws of the gods were so confusing. She couldn't directly interfere with any mortals, but Sera was great at interpreting the rules at her own leisure and finding loopholes for her own benefit. Now she was basically using the two she kidnapped for her own 'experiment'. Although Yuna didn't know what the true experiment was, she wasn't going to let it happen.

_Sera was foolish to think that this would escape my notice._ Yuna thought. Indeed, Sera was too arrogant for her own good. The very human she had kidnapped was the very same one that she herself was monitoring. She was shocked when she couldn't feel his life force on Earth, but that shock quickly turned into anger as she realized what happened.

Yuna knew she could bust Sera on this, but she needed more proof of what she was doing. She couldn't prove that Sera was the one who ravaged the planer decades ago, but now was her chance. She couldn't let this go on any longer.

"Sera, I will stop you. I'll silently guide these two through whatever hell you may put them through, and they will conquer your experiment…I vow this on my duty as a goddess." Yuna stated to herself. Dispersing the image, she left the threshold to prepare. No telling what Sera may do next…

--

**Next Chapter:** _Wandering Aimlessly_: Time jump! It's been two months since Netto and Forte arrived. Now they continue their way towards the Environmental System in hopes of finding a way back to their world. Along the way, the two seem to be getting closer...but is it what either of them want?

--

**Author's Note:** A treat for everyone who waited patiently for this chapter. It's my way of apologizing for the last chapter's lateness...

Anyway, if this chapter is a bit crappy, I apologize. I kinda rushed it because I wouldn't have time to work on it tomorrow. The next chapter should be soon, so look out for it.

Thanks go to Quatre Winner for betaing this chapter.


	5. Wandering Aimlessly

Netto sighed as he sat down near the fire he made. It had been two months since he had arrived in this screwed-up world with Forte by his side, and he was feeling homesick. However, he knew that he had to quickly adjust; he didn't know how long it would take him to get to the Environmental System.

The day after he left Shinta's family, he rechecked the coordinates. To his dismay, the Environmental System was pretty far away, possibly more than a hundred miles. However, he reckoned he had plenty of time to get there, so he traveled slowly and carefully. Forte, however, wanted him to pick up the pace. Netto then argued that rushing ahead into somewhere they didn't know anything about was foolish. Forte was seemingly placated by the retort.

Before Netto knew it, two weeks had already passed while they were traveling. During that time, Netto had tried to ration everything he had, but he was running short on water. Remembering everything about how to survive outdoors, he went looking for some water to refill his canteens.

Sure enough, he came across a river while deviating from the road. At first, he was hesitant about taking some of the river water. What if it was polluted? Forte, however, told him to stop being a coward and just take some of it. Shrugging, he did so and continued.

He was surprised with the amount of towns he had seen along the way. The people in them seemed to be doing better than most of the people in the city. It seemed that many people got back up onto their feet despite the disaster that shook the world. The people were currently happy, and they were beginning to reuse the technology that was nearly destroyed thirty years prior.

One day, Netto found himself wandering through a town. One month had already passed since he left the ruined city he had woken up in, and he found himself wandering aimlessly. Although he had a coordinate lock on where the Environmental System was, it wasn't much help if he didn't have a map with him. Luckily, he found a junk shop inside the small town; maybe he could find something worthwhile...

_Walking up to the counter, he found a middle-aged man asleep on the counter. Annoyed, he slammed his fist down onto the counter. The man groggily opened one eye and regarded him blearily. "Can I help you?"_

_Netto narrowed his eyes a bit. "Yes, I was wondering if you had a map. I'm trying to find...a place. I need a map to find where it is." Sighing, the man got up and headed towards the back room._

"_Let me see where I can find one..." he murmured as he walked into the back room, seemingly ignoring Netto's glare._

_Huffing, the brunette turned to look at the objects nestled in piles along the wall. "Now I know why they call them junk shops...none of them have anything anyone wants." Netto muttered to himself as he inspected all the piles. However, as he passed by one pile, something caught his eye._

"_What's this?" he said as he looked closely at one pile. He thought he saw something in there that looked strangely familiar. Digging through several pieces of junk, he found something that shocked him. "A PET charger?" he asked in disbelief. "How is this here?" _

"_What is that for, human?" Forte asked dryly from his PET. He was annoyed that they were taking too long in the shop. Netto took the PET from his waist and stared at Forte. _

"_I just found something that I've been worried about not having!" he exclaimed as he held up the charger for Forte to see. The navi narrowed his eyes. _

"_Why do we need that? It's just useless junk." Forte snorted, seemingly unimpressed. Netto sighed. _

"_It's to keep your PET alive, fin-head. I don't know why your PET doesn't drain as fast as any other, but I don't want to take any chances." he explained crossly._

_It was true; Forte's pet didn't seem to drain as fast as anyone else's, including Rockman's PET. The PET had been on for most of the month already, and the bar was still above the half-way level. However, Netto knew that the PET wouldn't remain like that forever and knew he needed to get a charger. It was just his luck that he found one._

_Forte just snorted as Netto turned back to the pile to see if there was anything else of interest inside it. After digging around for a few minutes, he finally picked up something with a shocked look on his face._

"_No way..." he breathed, "Battle Chips?" He looked at them one by one with trembling hands, eyes widening by the second. This couldn't be a coincidence..._

_Then his eyes immediately narrowed. This was all too convenient...if it was in any other circumstance, he would count himself lucky to find such necessities within a junk shop, but this wasn't a normal circumstance. Shrugging, he found himself taking the two items anyway. "It may be odd, but I don't think I have a choice right now..." he muttered to himself while he walked back to the counter, both items in hand._

_At that moment, the shopkeeper returned with a rolled up map in hand. Yawning once again, he eyed the two items on the counter. "Oh, so you want something else then." he said dully as he placed the map alongside them. Mumbling to himself, he kept glancing at the items and at Netto. Finally, he typed something into a machine and it beeped. "That will be 500 credits."_

_Netto's face immediately paled. That was one thing he overlooked; he didn't have any type of money on him. "Alright, let me get it out of my bag..." he said nervously. He wanted to see if there was anything in there that could help him._

"_Very smart." Forte grumbled. "Not looking to see if you have any money before trying to buy something." Netto didn't even bother to answer that._

_While Netto was searching through his bag, he came across a small blue card that was laying near the bottom of it. "What's this?" _

_The shopkeeper took one look at the card and took it. Before Netto could protest, the machine beeped once again and gave the card back to the brunette. "There you go." he yawned, obviously wanting to get back to sleep, "All paid for. You have 49,500 credits left on that card. Have a nice day." With that, the man put his head back down on the counter and closed his eyes. _

_Netto walked out of the shop, still stunned. Even without knowing what kind of money system this place used, he knew that he now had a large amount of money on him. His first thought was why he had so much; surely Shinta wouldn't have given him such a large amount. It was confusing, to say the least. Everything seemed to be one big coincidence. _

"_Hey!" Forte finally yelled from the PET. "Let's get going already. We've spent enough time in this run-down area as it is!" Snapping out of his thoughts, Netto shook his head. _

"_Not yet, Forte...there's some stuff I need to get before we go off again. Now that I have some money, I can get some new clothes!" he exclaimed happily. _

_Netto's clothes had become overly worn over the past couple of weeks, and he found himself needing some new clothes. Walking around the town, he quickly found a clothing shop. Shrugging, he entered the shop and was immediately greeted by a plump woman who was smiling. _

"_Why hello dear!" she squealed, which made both Netto and Forte slightly shiver. "What may I help you with today?"_

_Netto nervously rubbed the back of his head. This woman was slightly creepy. "Well, I need some new clothes to travel in, since my old ones are getting worn out..." he didn't get to say anymore as the woman took his arm and practically dragged him into the back._

"_So you're a traveler then! I don't see too many of those these days! I know the perfect outfit for you!" she cried as she nearly threw him into the dressing room. "I'll be right back with some clothes for you dear, just take your clothes off and put them to the side." she said as she walked out, missing Netto's blushing face and Forte's snickering._

_A while later, Netto was looking into a mirror with an awed expression. _

"_Just turn this thing around and let me see you, human!" Forte said annoyed. He wasn't really interested, but he wanted to make sure the human wouldn't be an eyesore for the rest of the journey. Netto complied with the request, and Forte looked over the brunette._

_Well, he certainly looked different. Instead of his orange vest and black shorts, he was now wearing black pants and a plain, long-sleeved black shirt. Netto was also wearing a pair of dark gray shoes to complete the look. However, the most shocking thing Forte found was that Netto was wearing a long brown traveling cloak which looked suspiciously like Forte's._

_The navi blinked in surprise before snorting. "You look like a cheap copy of me." he stated flatly._

_Netto just grinned down at Forte. "Don't you know that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?" He chuckled when he saw the navi grumble and turn away. It was at that moment that the shopkeeper came back in with a package in her arms._

"_I knew that outfit would be right for you!" she said happily as she gathered up all of the discarded clothes. "Since these clothes are all worn, I'm going to throw them out, is that alright?" Netto was about to say "no", but something stopped him as he nodded. She smiled again and went to the front again._

_Netto turned to look at himself in the mirror again. Forte was right, he did look like an impersonator of the navi. What he found more shocking though was the fact that he liked these clothes. Looking in the mirror again, he saw one thing that would clash with his outfit. Hesitantly, he reached up and slowly untied his headband and took it off. Staring at the worn cloth and Rockman's symbol, he stuffed it into his pocket; he didn't want to throw it away._

_The lady came back in humming. "Come with me dear, it's time to go pay for this stuff." Netto nodded, picked up Forte's PET, and followed her out to the front._

_At the counter, she smiled down at him. "First off, since you are traveling, I've amassed a few things you might need...such as undergarments in this package." she said as she handed it over to a slightly blushing Netto. "And don't worry about ruining the clothing you're wearing; the material is made of good quality, so it should last for a very long time even if you are constantly traveling." Typing a few key on the register, it beeped. "Everything comes to 5000 credits."_

_Netto handed the card over as she swiped it in the machine. It beeped again and she smiled. "Thank you! Your balance is now 44,500. Have a safe journey!" He thanked her and left._

_Sighing, he looked at Forte. "Now I think we're ready to go."_

_Forte snorted. "Finally."_

That had been more than a month ago.

Since then, there had been nothing too eventful that happened. About a week ago, he saw the PET battery start getting low, so he stopped in at a town he was passing by to rest at an inn. Forte was complaining that they were losing time, but Netto reminded him that if he didn't recharge the battery, then he really would be trapped inside the PET. Forte reluctantly conceded.

Netto was now constantly checking the map so he was sure that he was going in the right direction. He marked the coordinates of the Environmental System down on the map, and regularly marked his location so he wouldn't get lost. He still had quite a ways to go, but he was confident that he would make it there within another two months time.

He hadn't seen any type of animals ever since he started journeying. When he asked someone about it in a town, they laughed at him. Thankfully, one kinder soul explained to him that while most animal species were still alive, most of them didn't prowl around. It seemed that they were elsewhere; while he heard of other townspeople seeing animals all the time, he didn't see any at all. The thought of it saddened Netto.

However, he also noted that many people didn't travel much. Most of the time, he was virtually alone while traveling. He did run into other travelers every once in a while, however, and usually spent the night talking with them. Most of the time, they were just telling each other their lives on the road. When dawn came, Netto usually left without learning the other traveler's name.

Netto's relationship with Forte was getting better, thankfully. Although Forte still called him "human", he was saying it with considerably less malice in his voice. Likewise, he called him "fin-head" much less now. Although their relationship was getting better, they still called themselves partners.

Sighing once again, he scooted closer to the fire and hugged himself closer under his cloak. The air was chilly, and he couldn't bring himself to fall asleep. His mind was racing with too many questions.

_I still can't tell if this is the future of my world or not...it's possible, but...something seems off._ He thought. _If it really is the future, how far have I been flung into it? It would have to be pretty far, since I can't recognize anything here._

Bringing the PET up, he looked at it from all angles. _And how exactly did I get stuck with Forte? Granted, it's not so bad...he at least keeps me company._ he thought, amused. _It's still weird being with him, though._

_That voice was the one that brought me here..._ he thought. _There's no doubt about that. But...what is it planning?_

"Oy, human." Forte grumbled, annoyed. "What are you doing?" Netto blinked and brought the PET level with his face so he could speak to the navi. Netto shrugged.

"Nothing...just thinking."

"Oh." He fell silent after that, leaving Netto to his thoughts.

Some more time passed, and Netto still couldn't fall asleep. Glancing back at the PET, Forte still seemed to be awake as well. "Forte?" he mumbled, trying to get the navi's attention.

"Yes?" Forte responded, somewhat groggily.

"I was wondering something..." he began, unsure if he should ask. "Why do you hate humans so much?" he ventured finally.

Netto knew he was treading on dangerous ground. He knew some of Forte's back story from Dr. Cossack himself, but that was it. Netto wanted to know why Forte despised humans so much; he wanted to know the truth.

The navi's eyes narrowed as he frowned. "I don't have to tell you, human."

Netto sat up from his position on the ground to look at Forte. "I don't know the full story about you...all I've heard was negative things, the most prominent one being that you hate humans with a passion. I'm just asking why."

Forte snorted. "You wouldn't understand at all." Before Netto could speak, the navi cut him off. "Don't say you would either, because you don't! Can you understand the feeling of being alone for most of your life? Can you understand the hate of everyone else for being too powerful? Can you understand the pain of being left to fend for yourself by your creator?" he questioned angrily, stunning Netto.

However, he didn't stop there. "No, you can't! You're far too ignorant! You'd be the same as me if it happened to you. You'd be shunned by society and have people you trusted trying to kill you...So don't you dare try to say that you would understand my pain." he raged before silencing, turning away so he wouldn't have to look at the brunette.

Netto looked down at him with an odd mix of sadness, pity, and anger in his eyes. "Forte...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up old memories." Forte turned his head to look at him. "However...should you really judge humankind by the actions of a few people? To hate all humans because you were betrayed by some is ignorant and just insane if you ask me.

The navi turned to him, his eyes blazing. "What would you know!"

Netto glared at him. "I'm saying I don't know what pain you've gone through, but what I am saying is that just hating humans in general is stupid! You can hate Dr. Cossack and whatever scientists he worked with, I don't care. But taking it any farther than that is just stupid." Forte said nothing. Netto yawned and laid himself down on the ground again.

"I'm going to sleep now, and I suggest you do too. We have a large amount of ground to cover tomorrow." he said while curling himself up in his cloak. "Good night, Forte." he murmured before closing his eyes.

Forte kept staring at him until after Netto was long asleep. He seemed to be mulling over what the brunette had said. Sighing, he prepared to switch the PET to sleep mode.

_He doesn't understand your pain, but he's willing to. Perhaps you can trust him?_ One part of him said as he paused.

_No!_ he mentally snarled, _I promised myself that I would never trust humans! _

_You're beginning to with Netto._ The voice said. Forte audibly growled.

_Shut up!_

_You're just denying it because you don't want to be betrayed again. _The voice stated matter-of-factly. _He's right though; you can't go on hating all humans like this._

Forte's eyes widened for a few moments before he shook his head. _You don't know anything._ He mentally told the voice. He could almost feel the voice smirk.

_Whatever. I would trust him...you don't want to, but I can feel that you're starting to yearn to. Just give it time..._ Before Forte could retort, the voice fell silent. (1)

He sat there for a time, thinking. _Could I really trust this human?_ Forte thought to himself. He then shook his head. _No! Trusting him would only bring weakness. I will destroy the humans one day...I will make sure of it._ He then set the PET into sleep mode.

He had one last thought before shutting down for the night, however.

_...I'll just save Netto for last._

_---_

**Next Chapter:** _ Uncertain Future_: Netto and Forte are almost there; it's just a bit farther...however, they are sidetracked when they come across some sort of mechanical graveyard. With some exploring, both human and navi come to a revelation. With the revelation, Netto resolves to not only get home, but make a promise to Forte...

---

**Author's Note:** This chapter actually came out when I wanted it to. Go me.

Anyways, I want to clear up some things first. First off, this is strictly EXE canon; specifically the game canon. I do have some manga elements involved, but they are mostly concerned with Forte.

Next off, about the two goddesses in the interlude. No, they aren't the same Sera and Yuna from Rockman DASH. In fact, DASH isn't even connected to the storyline in any way. I just needed two figures for the interlude, so I just decided to name the two goddesses Sera and Yuna. It's a much better alternative than having original characters, I think.

Anyways, look for the next chapter soon...

Thanks go to Quatre Winner and JK Fie'r for Betaing.


	6. Uncertain Future

"We're nearly there, Forte...can you believe it?" Netto said while resting on the ground. It had been another month two and a half months ever since the two of them had their argument in the forest. The two of them didn't talk about it after that, which suited Netto just fine.

The two had been running into several delays that kept making them lose time on the road. Whether it be from something small like Netto stopping at a town to wash his clothes; or to something huge, like discovering another lab on the road.

_Man, I didn't expect a place like that to hold us up for so long..._Netto thought as he brushed some of his hair out of his face. Much to his annoyance, his hair had been growing at a rampant pace and was now at least shoulder length. It also didn't help when his bangs kept falling across his eyes. _But then again, it wasn't really the lab holding us up, was it? That city was in chaos, and we had to find a way around..._

It was true. It was right after they explored the lab and took anything that would have helped them. Netto was going to the small city to rest when an old traveler stopped him.

"_Child." the old man stated while holding Netto's shoulder, "Do not go in that city. If you even step one foot in there, you will bean immediate target by all the gangs in there._

_Netto blinked. "Gangs?" he asked incredulously. The old man nodded._

"_Yes. Several gangs have occupied the city, and all inhabitants have been driven out." Netto's heart sunk at that; his plans to go into the city for some help were now gone. "Even more, the gangs are constantly are war with each other. Because of that, all gangs kill anyone that steps foot within their turf, as they are constantly paranoid."_

_The boy absorbed all the information with a shocked look. "But...why? What are they fighting for?" The old traveler just snorted._

"_Don't be so naïve, young one. Some humans just fight for the hell of it, and this is one of those times. From what I've seen, they have nothing to fight for other than turf, which isn't much incentive in a destroyed city." he grumbled before turning around. "They just fight for the sake of fighting in a world like this...they have nothing to live for, after all. Humans exist to kill other humans, after all...You'd do good to listen to me, boy, or you will regret it later." The old man then started walking off, leaving a gaping Netto staring after him._

"_...he isn't serious, is he?" Netto whispered, "There is no way..."_

"_Netto." Forte cut in. The boy immediately looked at the navi, surprised. The caped navi hardly ever said his name; whenever he did, it was usually something important. "I would listen to him."_

"_What!" Netto exclaimed while looking staring at Forte. The navi shrugged._

"_We may not know much about this world, but the old man probably has more experience than you. Besides...what he said about humans was correct." Netto continued to stare as Forte shifted slightly._

"_How so, fin-head?" he asked quietly. The navi sighed._

"_As that man said, the humans occupying that city have nothing to live for...so they take out their frustration on everybody else. Stepping into that city would be suicide." he said calmly, looking at the bewildered expression on Netto's face._

"_But...that's..." Netto stuttered, trying to think of something to refute Forte's statement. He sunk to the ground when he found he couldn't think of anything at all. "Are people really like that...?" he asked sullenly. "Not just here, but everywhere?"_

_Forte nodded. "It is the truth. Humans will always fight...they always have and always will. It is inevitable. And even then, most people die at the whims of others; most of them not caring what happens. Remember it, human." _

_Netto shivered a bit before looking at his map. He had to get his mind off the subject. "Now we have to find a way around the city..." he muttered. "Wonderful."_

That was a month ago. Since the city in question was surrounded by mountains, he opted to travel around them. However, it took him nearly two weeks just to do that, and he had lost major time. Forte was really grumpy the whole time, so he avoided annoying the navi when he could.

Laying back on the ground, Netto stared at the discolored sky. "Humans will always fight...they always have, and always will." he repeated quietly to himself. Just the thought of that depressed him. "Sure, humans always fight over stupid stuff, but to the extent of killing each other for no reason at all? I know it's possible, but..." Netto sighed, sitting up as he did so. He didn't need to think on such a thing at the moment.

"So human..." Forte drawled out, "How much farther to go? I'm starting to tire of your constant presence." The boy gave the navi a hurt stare, but he knew he didn't really mean it. Forte just said stuff like that to rile him up.

"Well..." Netto then took out the map and checked with the coordinates. "It's not much farther...possibly only a day's walk from this point." he said before rolling up the map. "And even then, we don't even know if what's there will help us...it's the only thing we have going for us at this point, though."

The navi grumbled again before falling into silence. Smiling, Netto picked up all his things and continued down the road. "I think there's one small town before we reach the Environmental System, so we can rest there." he said while walking.

"Fine. Let's just get going." the navi grumbled.

For the next few hours, everything was fine. Netto was making good time, and was attempting to make some idle chatter with Forte. Like always, he only responded with snorts or the occasional 'hmm'. Soon enough, the town came into view. "Alright! Nearly there..." he exclaimed excitedly. He was about to continue walking when something caught his eye. "What's this?" he wondered as he looked at the object laying on the ground.

"Human!" Forte snarled, obviously unhappy that Netto had stopped. "What are you doing? Stop staring at the ground and start walking!" However, it seemed that the boy had not heard him. Forte growled in annoyance. "What the hell are you staring at anyways?"

Netto just unhooked the PET from his waist and pointed the screen in the direction he was staring at. Forte widened his eyes in confusion. "What is that?" the navi questioned. Netto shook his head.

"I don't know...but it looks like a leg." he muttered. "A metal one, to be exact...see? It's all rusted." Netto pointed out while looking around. "Why would a metal leg be all the way out here, though...?"

That was when he noticed even more rusted parts on the hill he was on. "What the...?"

"Something is off." Forte stated while narrowing his eyes. "I'm sure there is something up here...and I don't think we're going to like whatever it is." Netto looked at him in confusion.

"You're getting that vibe too, aren't you?" he questioned. Forte just nodded in reply. "Good, so I'm not the only one. Maybe we should check this out..."

"And waste even more time?" Forte growled out. Netto glared at him.

"The town isn't even that far away! We can explore around here for a little bit. It wouldn't hurt, would it?" he asked exasperated.

Forte grunted. "Fine. Just don't take forever." Netto nodded and started exploring the hill even more intently. For a few minutes, he couldn't find anything real odd. Just as he was going to descend the hill and walk towards the town, he saw another group of metal parts not too far away.

"This is starting to get a little freaky." he muttered before walking towards the parts. Leaning down to inspect them, he found something really odd. "This looks like...a head?" he said while his eyes widened. "Is this some sort of robot?"

"If it is, then it must be a very ancient one." Forte stated from the PET. "From the way the parts are all strewn about, I'm assuming no one has been up here for quite some time."

"But why though?" Netto asked no one in particular as he examined the robotic head more closely. He then noticed something by the 'ear' of the head. "A plug-in port?" he said in surprise, "That's odd...hey Forte, could you plug in and check it out?"

"Alright...but we're leaving after this, understood?" he growled, annoyed that they were taking too long on the hill. Netto nodded in reply.

"Plug in! Forte, Transmission!" he cried as the infrared beam shot into the port. "Forte, since there is no power running through the head, you have to be extra careful. I'm using the battery power from the PET to keep you in there, so explore as quickly as you can!"

Forte looked at his surroundings. "It doesn't look like there is much here, so I don't think it will take too long." he said as he walked along the path. For a few minutes, he just explored around the pathways, trying to find something of interest. It wasn't until he nearly reached the end of the whole path that he found something. "Well...this is new."

"What...?" Netto exclaimed, confused. "What are those things?"

Forte was standing in front of some weird, orange colored blob. There was some sort of red nucleus in the middle of it as well. From what the navi could see, there were numerous blobs on the path in front of him, blocking it completely. "They don't look that tough." Forte snorted, seemingly unimpressed. "They're not even moving."

Netto narrowed his eyes a bit. "You may be right, but..." he trailed off as he started to ready his battle chips, "I don't want to take any chances. We'll attack one and see what happens." Netto then took one chip from his pouch. "Battle Chip, Neo Variable Sword! Slot In!"

Forte's right arm changed into a slim sword with a curved edge. Growling, he rushed at the blob and swung downward. Although he was able to cut into the blob, Forte soon found that his arm was stuck. "What the heck is this stuff?" he growled in annoyance as he wrenched his arm free. Leaping back, he analyzed the blob more intently. "The goop itself is tough...but I think I know it's weakness." he stated as he charged forward again, this time stabbing directly at the red nucleus. The sword pierced through the goop and struck the nucleus, which shattered upon being hit.

Almost immediately, the goop gave off a hissing sound as it dissolved. Forte smirked.

"How did you know how to deal with it, Forte?" Netto asked curiously.

"Far too easy...a virus like that has it's weakness out in the open. It's only means of defense is its skin, but anything that can overpower it or pierce it makes it useless." he snorted.

"And you figured all this out just by attacking once? Impressive." Netto commented. Forte looked away to hide the small blush that rose on his cheeks.

"Shut up." The brunette snickered at that before getting some more battle chips ready.

"Alright, since we now know how to delete these things...let's keep going." Forte nodded and dashed his way towards the next blob.

For the next few minutes, Forte continued to destroy even more blobs as he made his way to the platform where the path led. His first sword had long since worn out and Netto sent him a Samurai Sword to replace it. Unfortunately, the sword was about to give out as he destroyed another blob. Growling, he changed his arm back to its normal state. Only one blob left, and he had no weapon.

Shrugging, Forte gathered some energy into his right hand. "Oh well...might as well do it the old fashioned way." he said as he leaped up. "Earth Breaker!" he cried as he slammed the energy down into the blob, obliterating the nucleus inside. The blob gave off one last hiss before melting. Forte slightly panted to regain his breath. "Whew...alright, I'm satisfied for now." he said while he smirked, "It's been a while since I've had a workout like that."

Netto raised an eyebrow skeptically. "You call that a workout?" Forte snorted.

"I wouldn't expect you to understand, human." Netto shrugged.

"Oh well...time to see what those things were blocking." he muttered as he looked around the area via the PET. At first, there was nothing of interest to see. However, he soon caught sight of something didn't think would be there.

"A door!" he said incredulously, "It can't be..."

"What's so special about a door, human?" Forte growled, "You look far too surprised for something simple like this."

Netto stared down at the navi. "This isn't an ordinary door, Forte! It's a Past Vision!"

"A Past Vision?" Forte repeated, confused. Netto nodded.

"I've seen these things before...they record memory and simulates an area of the past based on that memory." Netto explained, somewhat excited. "If a Past Vision is here, then it has to be an important memory, doesn't it? I mean, those blobs weren't just there for no reason, right? They had to be guarding this."

"I suppose." Forte shrugged. "You want me to go in there, huh? If it gets us out of here quicker..." he sighed as he stepped through the door.

Immediately, Forte was greeted with the sight of plains and hills. "What the hell?" he muttered as he looked around. "You weren't kidding, were you human?"

"No, I wasn't!" Netto huffed, annoyed. Forte snickered. "Anyways, look around. Hopefully something will come up soon."

Forte grunted as he wandered around the plains, searching for anything that might seem odd. Suddenly he heard a loud yell. "What was that?" Netto queried, startled by the sudden yell.

"It sounded like a group of humans yelling..." Forte was then cut off by a loud gunshot.

Netto's eyes widened. "What was that!" he exclaimed as he looked at the surrounding area through the PET screen. Forte narrowed his eyes and ran to where the noise was made. He stopped when he set his eyes on the commotion below.

"What is this...?" Forte breathed, his eyes slightly widening. Netto was stunned.

On the plains below, there were two throngs of people fighting. One group was clothed in some sort of gray uniform, and the other group was in a dark red. Strangely enough, the group clothed in gray had groups of robots with them; it was remarkably similar to the one Netto had found on the ground.

Suddenly, there was silence. "What are they doing?" Netto asked quietly, although he already knew the answer. Suddenly, the gray clad group charged at the red group, guns blazing. Netto watched in shocked horror as countless bodies dropped dead, blood flying everywhere. Both the humans and the robots mowed down the opposing group in a matter of minutes, but to Netto, it felt like an eternity.

The grey clad group then lined up as a short and pudgy man made his way through the ranks. Neither Netto or Forte couldn't hear what he was saying, but he suddenly pulled out a revolver and shot the last surviving red person through the chest. The gray clad group cheered before assembling back into ranks and marching on.

"General." one person's voice called out. "One of our robotic soldiers was destroyed by the enemy. Should we retrieve it?"

The general snorted. "No, leave it where it is. If it was destroyed so easily by those scum, then let it rot. I don't care." There were some more cheers before the voices drowned out completely. Netto felt his legs give out, horrified by what he had seen. Forte quickly plugged out, silently watching Netto's reaction.

"Horrible..." he let out, somewhat shaken by the vision. "Just plain horrible..." he let out quietly, looking at the ground. "Why? What were they fighting for that warranted them killing each other?"

Forte stared at Netto. For a second, he looked really worried before he resumed frowning. "Netto..." the navi said quietly, wincing at how worried he sounded. He wasn't supposed to be worried about the human, was he?

Netto was now trembling, holding back tears of anger. "What was it for? Wealth? Power? Or was it just the thrill of killing people!" he all but yelled. Forte was taken aback; Netto was currently sounding like...

_You._ The second voice in his head piped up. _He has seen only some of the horrors humankind inflict on each other, and he is shaken by that. At this time, you should comfort him._

_Comfort him? _Forte thought incredulously, _What makes you think I'll do that? I don't care what he thinks-_

_That's where you're wrong. _The other voice said. _You know you want to help him get over this...because he reminds you of yourself when you were alone. Despite everything you say, you do care what he thinks of you, and subconsciously, you know he cares about what you think of him too._

Before Forte could mentally retort to that, the voice left with one simple message; _Ask yourself this; do you really want someone else turning out like yourself?_ Forte closed his eyes for a moment and sighed, turning back to the trembling human.

"Netto. Calm down." he said loudly. Netto stared at him in shock; why was the human hating navitelling him to calm down instead of gloating? "I know that watching humans kill another is hard, but you can't act like this." The brunette just gaped at him.

"Is this what you and that old guy meant? That humans live just to kill each other?" Netto felt sick to his stomach; he wanted to throw up, but he had nothing in his stomach to do so. Forte shook his head.

"No, humans do not live just to kill each other. Some have purposes...I would have thought you knew about this already." Netto was surprised at what Forte had just said; the navi was also surprised at what he had said as well.

"I do know, but...it's hard to think clearly after seeing something like that." he said as he stopped trembling and stood up on shaky legs. "Let's get out of here...I need some sleep." Netto grumbled as he made his way down the hill. Getting back on the road, he took the PET and stared at Forte. "I thought you said you hated humans." The brunette muttered quietly.

Forte scowled. "I still do, human." Netto stared blankly at him.

"If you still do, then why did you help me? If anything, you should be gloating..." Forte stared back at him.

"...I just didn't want you to have a breakdown before we got to where we're going. Just helping you out of necessity." he said coolly. Netto suddenly smiled at him.

"Thanks, Forte." Forte blinked before he turned away to hide his blush. _Why does this human keep making me feel this way? Why does he keep making me feel...wanted?_

Netto then checked the PET's battery. "Uh-oh...it's getting low." he muttered as he replaced the PET on his belt. "We're lucky we're almost there..." His eyes then trailed down to where the PET was.

_...for some reason, I don't want this to end..._ Netto thought sullenly. _I miss my family and friends, but I don't want to abandon Forte..._

Netto didn't want to admit it, but he liked having Forte with him as a partner, maybe even as a friend. The navi was abrasive and rude, yes, but he could somewhat relate to him. Even more so after the Past Vision.

Closing his eyes and letting out a sigh, he made a promise.

_I won't let Forte be alone again. After this is all over, I'll ask him to come with me...I'm sure papa, Rockman, and everyone else would understand...I hope._

With that thought finished, he continued his way towards the town, and ultimately, the Environmental System.

---

**Next Chapter**: _Hollowed Halls_: Now Netto and Forte are finally at their goal: The Environmental System. As they explore around, more information on what has happened to the desolate world is revealed; and Netto doesn't take too kindly to it. Meanwhile, Sera has grown tired of her 'experiment' and now plans to eliminate the two wanderers. Can Yuna stop her in time?

---

**Author's Notes**: Whoo, nearing the final stretch. Only a few more chapters to go before Bonds is finished.

However, a sequel is planned for a later date, so look out for that when this fic is finished at last.

Next chapter hopefully coming out soon.

Thanks go to Quatre Winner and JK Fie'r for betaing.


	7. Hollowed Halls

Netto stared at the huge structure in front of him. He was finally there, after several months of traveling. Sighing, he brushed back his hair. He used the last of the credits to get himself a haircut, and his hair was back to where he liked it. Looked at his PET, he sighed. "Well, we're finally here. Hopefully there is something here that will help us."

Forte snorted. "There better be..."

Netto glanced down at the PET and sadly smiled. Since the event on the hill the previous day, the two had seemed to grow closer. Some part of him was telling him that neither of them wanted this to end, but he knew better. He had to get home to his friends and family.

Whether this was the last day he spent with Forte, or the beginning of several, he would make the best of it.

Walking into the compound, he was slightly startled when Forte suddenly growled. "Something isn't right here...be alert!"

Suddenly stopping, Netto glanced at Forte before staring at the area in particular. Looking around, he saw that the whole area looked like some kind of power plant. There were multiple buildings surrounding the middle area, and several large turbines near the edge of the establishment. Curious, he walked a bit closer to inspect them. Narrowing his eyes, he also inspected the others near the first one.

"These turbines are all in working order." Netto stated flatly, glaring at the ground. "They don't look damaged at all..." Getting up, he started to walk towards the middle area. "I don't like this. If the environmental system is so damaged, then why wasn't there any attempts to fix it?"

Indeed, Netto had wondered that throughout his journey. If people were suffering, then why wasn't there any attempts made to fix the system? Over time, he concluded that with the world in such a battered state, that there wasn't enough materials to do so. With this new revelation, however, it made him think twice.

"Let's explore a little deeper." Forte piped up, also suspicious of the area. "This is only the outside, so there may be an internal problem." Netto nodded as he began to walk deeper into the establishment. Some time passed as he was walking past the buildings, just looking around. The whole system was bigger than he thought...

Soon enough, he came across an abandoned computer building. Heading inside, he saw several things of equipment just lying untouched. "What is going on?" Netto asked in wonder, "Everything here is still usable!" Heading over to what looked like the main computer, he turned it on. Watching it boot up, he turned to Forte. "I'm not sure why, but something is very wrong." he whispered, staring intently at the navi. Forte could only nod at that.

Finally, the main computer booted up. Glancing at the navi, Netto frowned. "You ready, Forte?"

Forte grunted. "Yeah, let's just get this over with."

Netto nodded. "Plug in! Forte, transmission!" he cried as he fired the beam into the main port.

When Forte materialized within the computer, he blinked. The area wasn't really big at all. In fact, he only materialized onto some sort of platform, the space around him blank. "This is odd." he stated flatly.

Netto looked confused. "This is the main computer though, it shouldn't be blank like this!" he exclaimed, looking at the space through the PET. "Unless the computer itself has no data on it, then..."

At that moment, Forte spotted something on the far side of the platform. "Huh. What's this?" he questioned as he got closer to examine it. Analyzing the data, he narrowed his eyes. "Human!" Forte boomed loud enough so Netto could hear him. "I just found a video feed. Should I play it?

Netto blinked before looking around. There were no television screens around to play it, so he nodded. "Do it."

Complying, Forte played the clip on the computer screen.

_There were two figures standing inside the computer room. Their figures were blurred, and there was all sorts of noises going on in the background._

"_...What is this?" a gruff voice called out. Whatever noise in the background stopped._

"_Sir, this is the main computer." came another voice, one that sounded distinctly snake like. "All the data about the system and the surrounding areas are kept in here."_

"_Huh." the first voice said before sounds of him turning away were heard. "Erase it."_

"_Sir?"_

"_You heard me." the gruff voice stated plainly. "No one needs to know what happened here. Erase all the data from this computer. That's an order."_

"_But sir!" the second voice protested, "the data here is all very important! If we erase it, then how will we fix the system?"_

_There was a long pause before the gruff voice spoke up. "You heard what I said earlier." the first voice hissed, "erase it. All of it!"_

"_...yes sir."_

The video cut out shortly after that.

Netto looked shocked. So that's why the main computer was empty...

Forte took that time to plug out. "Hmph...looks like some sort of conspiracy." he remarked, staring at Netto. The boy nodded.

"Yeah...but why would they want to erase all the data on the Environmental System?" Netto asked, feeling slightly uneasy. "People could have used it to rebuild the system..." Shaking his head, he turned around and walked right out of the building.

Forte was slightly surprised. "You're taking this news a lot better than I thought you would."

Netto growled. "Let's just say that I know some humans can be like that." he shot back, making Forte's eyes widen slightly.

The brunette supposed he could have been more shocked at what the video feed had shown, but he found he wasn't. Although he didn't show it, he was still reeling from the image he had seen the day before. The way that one man could just order an army around to kill mercilessly opened his eyes to the fact that not all humans were good. Of course, he knew it already, but he had been denying it for some reason. He just couldn't figure out why.

For the next hour, Netto wandered around the premises, just looking for anything that could help him understand what was going on. Eventually, he sat down on a pile of crates outside the building to rest.

Staring up at the sky, Netto sighed. "It's been so long..."

"What are you talking about?" Forte asked, somewhat annoyed that they couldn't find anything so far.

Netto chuckled. "Sorry. It's just been so long since I've seen my family and friends." he said as he brought the PET up so he can look at Forte. "I wonder how they will react to me when we get back. I've changed, I know that..."

Forte snorted. "We have to get home first, human. Don't think about such stuff, it'll hurt even more in the long run." he said, almost whispering the last part. Netto gazed at him sadly.

"I know...but I have to keep hoping, don't I?" he asked the navi, closing his eyes as he did so. "It's what kept me going these last few months."

Forte shrugged. "I wouldn't know." Netto sighed again as he looked at the cloaked navi.

"You know..." Netto started, almost hesitant. "Sometimes, I get this feeling...like no one understands me at all." At that, Forte looked at him curiously.

"A feeling?" Forte repeated, just staring at the brunette. "How can you say that no one understands you? From what I know, you have plenty of people that can..."

" No you don't!" Netto said sharply, cutting Forte off. "It's just sometimes, I just need to talk about stuff that my friends wouldn't get. My mom wouldn't understand either..." he said lowly as he stared at the ground. "My dad would understand...but he's never around. I've needed to talk to him more and more, but he's never there."

Forte blinked. "So you're saying that you've never been able to talk about what was bothering you..."

Netto nodded. "Not only that, but...I just wanted someone there to talk to. And don't say anything about Rockman. I know he's always there for me, but...he doesn't understand some of the stuff I go through everyday." he muttered as resumed looking at the ground. Forte decided to stay silent.

Some time passed before Netto looked back up. "Alright, I think we can look around some more." he said as he got up. Slowly smiling, he looked down at Forte. "Thanks for listening, fin-head."

Forte snorted. "It's not like I had a choice in the matter, human."

Netto continued to smile regardless. "I know." he said as he made his way down the winding paths of the buildings, "But I wanted to get that off my chest for a while. I actually feel kind of relieved now." Looking around, he saw another area that he hadn't explored yet. "Well, there has to be something over here..."

Entering the unexplored area, Netto immediately caught sight of an odd looking building. The bottom level looked like all the other buildings, but the entire top area was twisted into some sort of tower. Shrugging, he decided to go in anyways. "Wonder what is in here..."

"Has to be something of moderate importance." Forte spoke up, warily eying the surroundings. "This building is built differently from all the others we've seen so far. Whoever was here was using this building for something..."

Netto shrugged again. "Well, we won't know until we see what's up there, right?" he asked as he started to ascend the steps.

For the next few minutes, Netto continued to climb the stairway. Finally, Netto reached the top, panting a little bit. "Jeez, those steps seemed endless..." he muttered before he looked around the top of the tower. Blinking, he looked around the perimeter again. "There's nothing up here!"

Forte glanced out of his PET and looked around. "Oy, human." he drawled, "Look to your right." he said, slightly annoyed that he had missed something really obvious.

Confused, Netto looked to his right. Right by the window was some kind of terminal, and it seemed to be blinking. Realization dawning on his face, Netto scowled. "How could I have missed something so obvious?"

Forte chuckled within his PET, and Netto glared at him. Sighing, he got the PET ready. "Whatever...Plug in! Forte, Transmission!" he cried as the infrared beam shot into a port in the terminal.

Materializing within the terminal's network, Forte looked around. "It's empty here too..." he murmured, "Did those humans get to this area as well?"

"I guess so." Netto let off as he looked around as well. Spotting nothing of interest, he was about to plug Forte out before the navi stopped him.

"Wait." Forte said before he took a few steps to his right. Leaning down, the cloaked navi picked something up off the ground. "This looks like some sort of text data."

"Text data? That would be helpful...how much can you salvage from it?" Netto asked, already knowing it had to be partially corrupted.

Forte ran a quick scan before shaking his head. "Most of it is pretty corrupted. I can get the beginning, and some of the end, but that's it."

Netto sighed. "Alright. Could you please open them so we can see what it's about?"

Forte slightly scowled, but nodded all the same as he opened up the text file.

_LOG 26998-A0X_

_The Environmental System has been totally destroyed by some unknown variable. _

_However, no worries. I am certain by the end of next month, we can have it up again. Although the core may have been totally vaporized, it isn't that hard to make a new one from scratch when you know what you are doing. The question is how much damage will be done in that short span of time..._

_...I've been hearing some frightful things, though. Apparently, some army has been marching around the continent, slowly taking over areas that belonged to us. Our army is trying to repel them, but..._

_Almost...we almost have the new core ready. We've been in quite the rush though; the gray army is approaching fast. They want something from us, but what could it be...?_

_...no...they..._

_..z..zzt..._

_END OF LOG_

Netto blinked from reading that. "So they were trying to repair the system after all..." he breathed, somewhat surprised. "I wonder what happened though...the person who wrote this said some kind of army was approaching, but the log doesn't give a date, does it?"

Forte shook his head. "No, it doesn't." Netto furrowed his brows in thought before his head shot up, his face etched in shock.

"F-Forte! The log said that they were the gray army, didn't it?" The cloaked navi merely stared at Netto until he caught onto what he was saying. His eyes widened too. "That means the gray army we saw in that vision..."

"...was the same one that was heading here. Of course..." Forte murmured. Netto shook his head to shake off some of the shock. Now it made some sort of sense. The gray army had invaded and made their way to the Environmental System. It still didn't explain why they had, however. Sighing, he plugged Forte out and stood up.

"Well, let's head for the main building." Netto said as he started walking down the stairwell. "Maybe there it will explain everything."

Forte found himself nodding. "Yes...maybe there we will find a clue to getting home." Netto glanced at him and smirked.

"We will find something there, count on it!"

---

Sera stared at the two figures in boredom. Much to her ire, the two had managed to reach the Environmental System with little to no problems. It confused her on how one human could be so lucky as to catch all the breaks he had during his journey. On top of that, it seemed that her theory was being proved wrong. The accursed human and computer program were growing closer.

She scowled as she waved away the image. "It seems the human has disproved my theory after all..." she muttered silently as she got up. "Hmph. That's no fun at all." Gathering some energy into her palms, she started to focus on a distinct figure. She had to keep it as small as possible, however, to avoid alerting The Master.

Grinning as she felt it, she then sent the figure down to where Netto and Forte were at. "Yes, fly my pet..." she murmured before chuckling. "Fly to where those worms are and destroy them. I'm counting on you to do this right, Geetz..."

"No!"

Startled, Sera turned around to see another figure rush in. Snarling, she immediately recognized who it was. "Yuna! What are you doing here!"

Yuna glared at her sister. "I'm here to stop you from destroying those two. I won't let you continue your sick game any longer."

Sera smirked. "Well, you're too late. I've already sent my pet, Geetz, to dispose of them. There is nothing you can do." Her grin became wider when she saw Yuna's face pale.

"No..." Yuna muttered, her eyes staring at the image of Netto and Forte. "Have all of my efforts been in vain?"

"Efforts?" Sera repeated curiously before she snarled again. "Now I get it...you've been helping that brat all along! No wonder he's had so many lucky breaks...you've been working behind the scenes!" Seeing Yuna wince, Sera narrowed her eyes. "Now it all makes sense...the money, the battle chips, everything! You've been helping him avoid all the danger I placed ahead of him!"

Growling, Yuna merely gazed at her sister. Sera suddenly smirked. "Well now...I believe this counts as interfering with another god's area...I think The Master will have something to say about this." she said gloatingly.

"How dare you!" Yuna suddenly screamed, absolutely furious at her sister's arrogance. "The Master would not let you get away with something as huge as this! Are you so blinded with your hate of humans that you would chance flouting the rules of The Master?"

Sera cackled again, making Yuna wince. "The Master would not notice, dear sister! He hasn't for the past thousand years, and he won't now! Who cares if I had to bend a few rules just to prove myself right?"

Yuna then closed her eyes and sighed. "Have you learned nothing over these past millenia, Sera?"

Sera only glared hatefully at her sister. "I have learned far more than you have, Yuna! The human race is a scourge upon the universe, nothing more than tiny bugs waiting to be squished. I wanted to see how such insects would survive without their precious 'technology', so I totally destroyed one world to see...it seems that they still could. How disappointing." she spat out.

"It seems that you have never understood the human race, Sera..." Another voice rang out, it's tone somewhat harsh. Sera gasped as she turned around. Behind her was The Master, with his long blond hair and clad in his blue robe.

"Master!" she whimpered, bowing low. "I-I didn't hear you arrive...!"

"Exactly as I planned it." The Master said as he stared upon the trembling Sera. "Sera. You have not only failed in your duties, but your total disregard of the rules has upset me."

The goddess paled. "M-Master? But what about Yuna? She has been intruding on my duties as well!"

The Master growled at Sera, startling both goddess. Neither of them had seen him this angry in their entire lifetimes. "Don't you even dare to try and blame Yuna. She was doing her job, and you're the one who interfered first." Sera winced at his tone, but he wasn't done yet. "Not only have you intruded within Yuna's sphere of influence, but now I find out that you really did destroy that world...how dare you."

If The Master was angry before, he was absolutely livid now. Sera stepped back in fear. "From this day forth, I strip you from your position of watching over the mortals and remove from you your power to do anything."

"N-no! Master! Anything but that!" Sera all but screamed. That was one of the worst things to happen to any god or goddess, to be stripped of their power so completely that they were just bystanders. The Master fixed her with a cold glare.

"You are lucky that I am being lenient, Sera, because the full punishment I had in mind was a whole lot worse." he stated icily, making both goddesses shiver. "Now, begone from my presence and wait for me in your chambers. You are not to leave, or the consequences will be harsh."

Sera looked like she was going to protest again, but quickly stopped upon seeing The Master's glare. Fixing Yuna with one last hateful stare, she teleported out. The Master sighed before looking at Yuna.

"I really wish I didn't have to do that, but I had no choice. Her disregard to the rules I set down has forced me to act." he said before sighing again. "You know I also have to punish you, Yuna, for breaking the interference laws."

Yuna stepped up to the master, unhesitant. "Yes Master, but I did it out of necessity. I simply could not let Sera play around with human lives as if they were mere toys." The Master raised a brow quizzically.

"But one of them is not human." he pointed out, "One is merely a program created by the humans to simulate life." Yuna shook her head.

"Maybe, but they are living all the same. I promised myself that I would see both Netto and Forte home, and I intend to go through with it. I shall face whatever punishments that come my way; I am not afraid."

The Master merely stared at her before chuckling. "Very well then...I'll suspend your punishment for now. I wish to see how things turn out for the two of them."

Yuna then gasped. "Sera sent Geetz down to kill them!" she said, shocked that she had forgotten such a thing. "Master! We need to go down and help them!"

The Master shook his head sadly. "Unfortunately, our laws prohibit such a thing...it is all very crazy, actually. I really need to go back and destroy those loopholes..."

"Master!" Yuna cried in dismay. His head perked up at that.

"Oh, right...I would not worry, Yuna. I have the feeling everything will turn out alright for them. Let us watch for now and see how things turn out."

"But Master!" Yuna said, surprised that he couldn't do anything, "Sera sent down her pet to destroy them! Not even the two of them can deal with something like Geetz..."

Surprisingly, The Master chuckled. "Do not worry, Yuna. I have seen to it that Geetz will not be able to use all of his strength." Yuna looked confused, so he pointed to the image he conjured up. "Let us just watch and see how they deal with it.

Yuna frowned. _I hope you know what you are doing, Master...Netto, Forte...stay safe._

---

"Phew..." Netto muttered as he finally entered the main building. It had been a long walk from the abandoned tower, and he was already feeling tired. The main building was very spacious on the inside, and it looked like there were several rooms to look through. Netto sighed. "This is going to take forever, at this rate."

"Let's just avoid looking in all the rooms." Forte suggested. "All we need to do is find the area the houses the system itself. Nothing else matters."

"I guess you're right..." Netto sighed. Forte smirked.

"Aren't I always?" Netto cast an amused glance at the navi.

"Getting a bit of a personality, are we?" he snickered as Forte blushed a bit and turned away. Shaking his head, Netto continued deeper inside the building.

For the next hour or so, he had no luck. Every area he tried going through was a dead end, and he was starting to get frustrated. "Where is the stupid system?" he hissed, turning back yet again from another dead end. That was the fifth one he had run into, and his patience was starting to wear thin. Forte was starting to get mad as well.

Finally, after yet another half-hour of searching, Netto managed to find a passageway that was easily overlooked. Trudging along, he couldn't help but notice that it seemed to get darker as he advanced. He came to a stop outside a pair of steel doors, feeling oddly on edge.

"Aren't you going to open the doors, human?" Forte growled out, his patience at an end. Netto gulped and opened the two doors.

He paled when he looked inside.

Inside the giant room was huge machine with some kind of sphere held above the ground. Netto reasoned it was the core for the Environmental System, so he quickly ignored that. What frightened him, though, was the numerous amount of skeletons that were on the ground.

Even Forte couldn't hide his shock. "What happened here...?" he breathed, blinking rapidly. The sight before him was gruesome...

Breathing deeply, Netto stepped into the room. Forte looked at him in surprise. "You're still going in there, Netto?" he exclaimed. Netto nodded.

"I...We have to. If we ever hope to understand what has happened, then we have to see what's in this room." Netto said with false bravado, but Forte could see that the boy was trembling. Netto continued into the room, avoiding all the skeletons as much as he could.

Climbing up the numerous stairwells, Netto finally reached something that seemed to be a gigantic console with a giant monitor. Calming himself, he reached for the PET. "You ready again, Forte?" he asked quietly, trying to hide the nervousness in his voice.

"I am." came the reply.

"Plug in! Forte, Transmission!" Netto cried as he fired the infrared beam into the console.

Forte once again appeared in an area where there was nothing but the platform he was on. Looking around warily, he spotted another piece of data on the far side of the platform. "I found another video feed...are you sure you want me to play it?"

Netto hesitated for a second before he nodded. "Do it. There's no turning back now..."

Forte closed his eyes. "Alright then." he said quietly as he began the feed.

"_So, this is the main area of the system, eh?" came a gruff voice from a shadowy figure. The second figure nodded._

"_That is right sir..." came a snake like voice, "This is the main control for the environmental system area."_

"_Argh!" came a voice from down below before gunshots were heard. There was the sounds of bodies hitting the floor before it fell totally silent again._

"_Bah!" the first voice snorted, turning away from the system. "Such scum are lower than the dirt beneath my feet. Their technology as well! Destroy it all!"_

_The second figure paused. "I am afraid that is impossible, sir. It seems that they have made the system itself...untouchable." he said finally. The first figure growled._

"_Fine." he spat, not at all pleased. "Take anything that looks useful and bring it back with us. We're leaving."_

"_Sir, what about the new core the scientists were working on?" the snake like voice asked. The gruff voice snorted again._

"_Leave it. We don't need it anyways...soon enough, this continent will come under our rule..._

The rest of the feed cut out from there.

Netto stood there, stunned. "So...the gray army came in here and killed unknown amounts of people just to rule this continent?" he asked incredulously. "Is this how human kind really is? That we follow those that hold power blindly? So that we kill others under orders, not caring about the lives we take?" he asked as he started shaking again. This was starting to get to be too much for Netto.

"Netto!" Forte said from the computer, trying to calm the human down. "Don't forget what we talked about yesterday! Are you going to be so weak as to allow a few images to rule your mind?"

"Easy for you to say." Netto spat viciously. "You already hate humans, so you don't have to suffer over the fact that you know your own kind is doing wrong."

Forte blinked in surprise before closing his eyes and sighing. "Perhaps you are right, but beating yourself up over this isn't the way to go about this." he said, trying to break through to the boy.

Netto merely stared up at Forte, his eyes still having unshed tears in them. "Is this what you had to go through, Forte? With your hatred of humans?"

Forte shifted uncomfortably. "Not exactly..."

Suddenly, there was a loud screech behind Forte. Turning around, the cloaked navi found himself facing a large, bird-like creature.

The bird had some kind of gold color-scheme and an some kind of armor on. It's wings were huge, spanning the length of the entire platform. The feathers on its wings looked sharp, and it's talons looked even sharper. The bird's tail had some kind of drill-like tip on the end, and it's red eyes bored into Forte.

"What is that!" Netto cried, surprised at something appearing so suddenly.

"I don't know, but I'm taking it down!" Forte stated as he got into a battle stance. Netto took in a breath and nodded.

"Alright Forte, let's do this! Battle Routine, set!" Netto yelled as he drew a chip out of his pouch.

"Execute!" Forte cried as he started to charge his Shooting Buster. The bird screeched again before diving forward, talons extended.

Netto tried to shake off the shaking feeling he had. Something was telling him that something was going to go wrong. Shaking his head to clear it, he took a chip.

"Battle chip, Dream Aura! Slot in!"

If only Netto knew that his feeling was right...

---

**Author's Note:** No next chapter preview, mainly because it's the conclusion. That, and I want to keep it a surprise.

Anyways, I decided to get this chapter out earlier than I intended. Mainly because I have some schoolwork I have to do, and I wanted to write this out before I became swamped. So here it is.

The next chapter will be out soon. This chapter was to set everything up for the conclusion, which is only two chapters away. Stay tuned

Thanks go to Quatre and JK Fie'r for betaing.


	8. The Bonds that Bind Us

"_What is that!" Netto cried, surprised at something appearing so suddenly._

_"I don't know, but I'm taking it down!" Forte stated as he got into a battle stance. Netto took in a breath and nodded._

_"Alright Forte, let's do this! Battle Routine, set!" Netto yelled as he drew a chip out of his pouch._

_"Execute!" Forte cried as he started to charge his Shooting Buster. The bird screeched again before diving forward, talons extended. _

_Netto tried to shake off the shaking feeling he had. Something was telling him that something was going to go wrong. Shaking his head to clear it, he took a chip._

_"Battle chip, Dream Aura! Slot in!" _

Forte grunted as he held off another talon attack by the giant bird, being pushed back. Although the Dream Aura protected him from any damage, he could still feel the force of the attack. Growling, he brought his buster forward. "Shooting Buster!"

He fired a multitude of buster shots at the bird, snarling when the bird just glided out of the way. Analyzing the battlefield. He was stuck on a small area of space, while his enemy was able fight from the sky. Furthermore, his enemy was pretty quick. If the bird was able to dodge a flurry of buster shots, then there was no telling how fast it was.

Suddenly, the golden bird started to flap it's wings quickly, sending a shower of razor like feathers at the navi. Quickly leaping all over the place to avoid them, Forte tried another Shooting Buster. Again, it was dodged. Growling, Forte leapt backwards to assess his options.

_I hardly have any room to effectively fight!_ Forte thought as he started to prepare an Earth Breaker. _That stupid bird keeps flying away after any attack I throw at it..._ Leaping up, Forte managed to intercept the golden bird as it was descending.

"Nowhere to run, bird." Forte said as he smirked. "Earth Bre-" the cloaked navi was cut off when the bird turned to look at him, gathering some kind of energy into its mouth. "What!" was all he got off before the bird shot the energy at Forte, driving him back into the ground.

"Forte!" came Netto's voice, "You alright?"

Snarling, Forte stood up. "I'm fine. That last attack broke the Dream Aura, though." he replied as kept staring at the giant golden bird. If he didn't know any better, it looked like it was smirking at him. He growled; nothing did that to him and lived.

Netto narrowed his eyes. "Then I guess we'll have to get serious then." he stated as he drew another chip. "Battle chip, Neo Variable Sword! Slot in!"

Forte's right arm immediately morphed into a slim sword with a curved edge. The bird screeched again, diving forward with it's talons.

"I don't think so!" Forte said as he jumped up into the air, bringing the sword back in position. "Take this!" he cried as he unleashed a sonic wave from the sword, heading directly towards the bird's chest.

The bird took off again, but not without getting hit near the chest area. The bird let off some sort of growl, and immediately flew right into Forte, making him fall to the ground again.

Landing upright, Forte growled as he held his side. That last attack hurt. "What is this thing?" he asked out loud, glaring at the brid figure as it started to glide back towards the platform. "That attack should have wounded it, but it shrugged it off like it was nothing!"

"This isn't a normal virus, Forte!" Netto said as he was preparing a few more chips, "It's just like that two-headed wolf we saw all those months ago..."

"Hmph." Forte snorted, standing upright again. "No matter. I'll bring it down..." he muttered as the bird flew forward, talons extended. It looked like it was ready for the kill. Forte once again jumped out of the way, letting the bird glide past him. Glancing behind him, he saw the bird turn once again. "He's too fast..."

"Here it is!" Netto exclaimed as he held up a chip. "Forte, when I send this chip to you, fire it point-blank into that birdbrain's face!"

Forte readied himself. "And what chip are you planning on sending, human?"

"This one!" Netto exclaimed. "Battle chip, Mega Cannon! Slot in!" he cried as he sent the data to Forte. The navi's right arm morphed into a red-colored cannon.

Smirking, Forte prepared to jump. Just as the golden bird was about to dive down at him, Forte leapt up at it. Extending the arm with the cannon out, he pointed it right at the bird's face. "Mega Cannon!" he cried as he fired.

The bird screeched in pain as it plummeted to the ground. Forte landed behind it, and immediately ran out of the way to avoid being swatted by it's tail. The cloaked navi charged up his buster and followed up his attack with a Shooting Buster. The bird, however, merely shielded itself with it's wing.

Forte frowned. "No effect..." he muttered. How strong was the bird, anyway? The golden bird then shook its head and stared at the navi. Forte took one look at the bird's face and snarled.

"Forte, what's wrong?" Netto asked, trying to find another chip to send to Forte.

"That bird...just smirked at me." Forte said, eerily calm. "Nothing smirks at me in battle...not a virus, not a navi, and not some damn freak bird!" he growled out as he prepared another Earth Breaker.

"Forte! Don't!" Netto yelled, but Forte ignored him as he started to rush towards the bird.

The golden bird, however, had different plans. Narrowing it's beady eyes, it spread it's wings and started to glow with a blinding white light. Forte had to stop charging and cover his eyes because the light was so bright.

"What's...happening?" Forte choked out. It seemed that the area around him was warping, becoming distorted. He could hear the bird screeching, but he ignored it in favor of trying to keep his bearings. The light then became so bright that Forte had to shut his eyes.

"Forte!" Netto yelled again, trying to see if the navi was alright. Forte distantly heard it, but couldn't respond.

Suddenly, it felt like something was pulling him from behind. The pull was so strong that he lost his center of balance and collapsed onto his knees. Breathing labored, he closed his eyes to regain his balance.

---

"Master? What is happening?" Yuna asked, worried. Geetz was proving to be a strong opponent for Forte, and the goddess was concerned on how the two would survive. Her worry increased when she saw The Master frown.

"It seems that Geetz is attempting to materialize in the real world." The Master stated as he stared intently at the image. "Something that he didn't count on is happening, however."

"What?" Yuna asked in confusion. The Master closed his eyes and slightly smiled.

"Geetz is expending too much energy to phase into the real world. Consequently, he's bringing everything around him into the real world as well." he explained, still staring

Yuna blinked before her eyes widened. "So...that means...!"

The Master nodded. "Yes...just watch for now, though."

Yuna sighed as she turned back to the image. "I really hope that they get out of this alive, Master."

"So do I, Yuna...so do I." The Master remarked as they continued watching.

---

As soon as the light faded, Forte shook his head to clear it and stood up. "Where is that bird!" he snarled, regaining his balance. "Some cheap trick won't save it..." he muttered, looking back and forth.

"F-Forte...!" came Netto's voice.

"What, human? Can't you see I'm..." he growled out as he turned around, "...what!" he gasped, his eyes widening.

In front of him was the human. Netto's eyes were as wide as dinner plates, and he was gaping at him.

"H-how? Is this even possible?" Netto muttered, blinking rapidly to make sure it wasn't an illusion. Forte looked over himself and at Netto, trying to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating.

Netto slowly walked over to Forte and laid a hand on his shoulder. Coming out of his confusion, Forte stared at the boy. "What are you doing?" he asked quietly, his eyes boring into Netto's brown ones.

"I can touch you..." Netto breathed, his expression changing into one of awe, "This is amazing..." he muttered as he took his hand off the navi's shoulder. "It's all so unreal...how did this happen?"

Forte shook his head. "I don't know...that strange bird did something though. It felt like I was being pulled somewhere." he murmured as looked around. Everything looked incredibly different now that he was seeing it from outside the network. That and just staring at Netto face to face made it seem all like a dream.

Netto suddenly started in surprise. "That bird! Where did it go!" he exclaimed before looking around wildly. Forte looked around in surprise; he had temporarily forgotten about the giant golden bird in the shock of actually being in the real world.

"_Up here..._" a voice boomed from above them. The two looked upwards, finding the giant bird looming above them.

"It can talk!" both Netto and Forte exclaimed simultaneously. The bird let off another screech, sounding distinctly like a chuckle.

"_Fools..."_ the bird spoke, leering at them. "_I don't have time to play with you...Mistress Sera has ordered your execution, and I, Geetz, shall be the one to do it._"

"Sera?" Netto repeated in confusion, eyes widening. "Is that the name of the person who brought us here?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at the giant bird.

"_How sharp._" the bird remarked sardonically, _"I was planning on killing the both of you separately...however, due to a slight oversight of mine, it seems that the both of you are now together._" Letting off another screech, it glared down at them. "_No matter. That just means I can just kill both of you at the same time."_

Forte snorted. "I'd like to see you try, bird." he growled, glaring at the giant bird above them.

Geetz let off another screech. "_Amusing._" it remarked as it spread it's wings, "_But...playtime is over, I think. Preapre to die!_" With that, Geetz started to dive down at them.

Eyes widening, Forte immediately grabbed Netto into his arms and leapt off the platform. Netto, surprised, watched Geetz destroy the platform that they were on only seconds before. Forte landed on the ground floor, immediately placing the brunette back on his feet. "Forte...?"

"Hide, now!" Forte growled as he got in a ready stance. Netto looked at him in bewilderment.

"But..."

"Do as I say!" Forte ordered, watching Geetz recover from crashing into the platform. "If you don't, you'll be an easy target! I can't both battle and protect you at the same time, human!"

Netto hesitated for a few seconds before nodding. "Alright...I'll send Battle Chips to you when I find a spot to hide in." The brunette started to run to a corner of the room when he suddenly stopped and turned around. "...be careful, fin-head."

Forte smirked at him. "I will, human." Netto slightly smiled at him before he resumed running to a corner of the room.

The caped navi then returned his attention on Geetz, who had recovered from crashing into the platform. "Now, where were we?"

Geetz growled down at the cloaked navi. "_Impudent worm! I shall make sure your death is painful!_" it boomed before spreading it's wings again. "_Take this!_" Geetz screeched before unleashing several razor-sharp feathers at Forte.

Swiftly jumping to dodge the feathers, Forte charged up another attack. "Shooting Buster!" he shouted as he moved, shooting multiple shots at the bird.

Geetz merely grunted and covered himself in its wings again. "_This attack again, worm? You know it's futile!_" it boomed as the shots bounced off the wings. Uncovering itself, Geetz looked around. "_What? Where did he go!_"

"Right here!" came Forte's voice as he leapt up from behind Geetz. "Earth Breaker!" he cried as he drove the energy into the giant bird's back.

Geetz shrieked in pain as the Earth Breaker collided with its back. "_You shall pay for that, you worm!_" it shouted before smacking Forte with it's tail, sending the navi crashing into the wall. Immediately, Geetz followed up with its attack by diving down, talons first.

Meanwhile, Forte was recovering from the attack. Netto saw this while hiding behind a pile of rubble and immediately got a chip out from his pouch. "He'll be damaged really badly if he gets hit..." he said as he slotted in a chip. "Battle chip, Barrier! Slot in!"

Forte saw the talons heading towards him as he crossed his arms to block the inevitable hit. He was surprised when some sort of barrier formed around him, preventing Geetz from hitting Forte. The navi smiled. "Thanks, human..." he muttered as he gathered energy for another Earth Breaker, "Time for a counter-attack."

Leaping up, he slammed another Earth Breaker into Geetz, this time hitting the bird directly in the chest. Geetz shrieked in pain again, and swatted Forte away with his wing. The cloaked navi landed upright and jumped away again, frustrating the golden bird.

"_You will not get away from me so easily!_" it shrieked before charging up an energy blast in it's mouth. "_Die!_" Geetz screamed before it shot multiple energy blasts everywhere.

Netto covered his face when an energy blast landed somewhere near him, making a large dust cloud arise. "Damn...I can't see anything..." he muttered as he tried looking around. He then heard a scream of pain somewhere towards the far end of the room. "Forte!"

Forte had narrowly dodged an energy blast, but the force of the blast sent him hurling into a pile of rubble. He stood shakily, holding his side in pain. "Damn..." he let out as he looked at the looming figure above him.

"_You see how futile it is to oppose me, you little worm?_" Geetz screeched in a haughty sort of way, "_You will not win. Just stay down and accept your fate..._"

"Never!" Netto yelled out from the corner of the room, "We'll keep on fighting until we can't anymore! There is no way we're going to lose to such a freak like yourself, right Forte?"

Forte chuckled. "That's right...I'm not going to lose to something like you!"

Geetz growled. "_Impudent worms...I shall savor both your deaths!_" it roared as it gathered up more energy in its mouth. Forte started to move quickly; he couldn't afford to be hit by one of those blasts.

"Forte!" Netto called out, evacuating his hiding place as an energy blast was aimed at it, "Use your Vanishing World! It's the only thing powerful enough to really damage Geetz!" he yelled out, hoping Forte had heard him. Netto yelped as he quickly dived behind another pile of rubble, avoiding a flying energy blast.

Forte grimaced. "He's right..." he muttered to himself, "I have to make this count, though." He began to gather up energy. Forming both of his hands into a Gospel head, he readied himself.

Multiple energy blasts struck the ground, making everything hard to see from all the dust and smoke that had arisen. Gritting his teeth, Forte continued to steady himself. "Where is he..." he muttered silently to himself.

Then the dust cleared. Geetz was still hovering in the air, looking around for the cloaked navi. Forte smirked; this was it. "You've given me enough trouble..." he stated as he brought the Gospel head up, "Time for you to go! Vanishing World!" he cried as he shot the beam of energy at Geetz.

Surprised, the golden bird covered itself with it's wings. For a moment, it seemed to be able to stop the beam. Then Geetz roared in pain when the beam pushed it back and damaged it. Forte lowered the Gospel head, panting.

"_Argh! You little-!_" the golden bird roared while opening it's wings again. Geetz screeched in pain when they fully opened, revealing that some parts of them were destroyed. "_My wings...you damaged my wings...! I won't let a worm like you get away with such an act!_" The giant bird then started to charge up more energy.

Forte was still breathing heavily when Netto started to yell. "Forte, now's our chance!" he cried as he took one more chip. "One more of those and he's down for the count! Battle chip, Area Steal! Slot in!"

The cloaked navi immediately knew what Netto was talking about as he formed the Gospel head again. Taking in a deep breath, he immediately teleported behind Geetz.

Geetz's eyes widened. "_What...!_"

"This time, there is no escape!" the cloaked navi cried as he prepared to fire. "Vanishing World!" Forte roared as he shot the beam at point-blank range.

The beam pierced Geetz's chest. The giant bird opened it's mouth in a silent scream, it's eyes unfocused. "_No...!_" it muttered, "_This is impossible...!"_ With that, the bird finally fell to the ground, slumped over.

Forte landed on the ground, slumped over and panting heavily due to the energy he used in using his Vanishing World two times in a row. He looked up to see Netto running over to him, beaming.

"You did it!" he cried, staring into Forte's face, "You got him good!"

Forte could only bring himself to smirk at Netto. "You expected anything different?" he asked sarcastically, looking at the brunette.

Netto closed his eyes and chuckled. "No, I didn't. Not from you, anyway."

Forte chuckled as well. "I don't want to say this, but...thanks." he said, looking down. "If you didn't send me that chip in time..."

Netto waved him off. "Don't mention it. After all, we're partners, right?" he said while offering Forte a hand to help him.

The cloaked navi stared at the hand for a moment. "Partners..." he muttered, looking thoughtful. That was when he noticed Geetz slightly moving around. Forte's eyes widened. _That shot should have finished it off!_

Geetz let off a low chuckle. "_I have failed in my mission...how humiliating...however..._" it muttered silently as it started to gather a massive amount of energy in it's mouth, "_I will take both of you with me!_" it roared as it shot it towards the duo.

Netto turned around and looked shocked at the incoming projectile at them. There was no way that they were going to dodge that!

Forte looked at the energy blast and at the wide-eyed boy right next to him. Without hesitation, he covered Netto's body with his own.

"Forte...!" was all what Netto was able to get out before the blast hit Forte's back. The cloaked navi screamed out in pain, the blast also vaporizing his cloak. When the blast stopped, his head dropped to look at the boy.

Netto looked absolutely mortified. "Forte..." he choked out, his face pale. "Why...!"

Forte growled as he summoned the last of his energy into his right hand. "No time...for that right now." he muttered as he leaped at the slumped figure of Geetz. "Die! Earth Breaker!" he yelled as he brought the energy down on the bird's head.

Geetz could only stare up at the descending energy approaching his head. "_Mistress Sera..._" it muttered before the Earth Breaker collided with his head. The head shattered upon impact, the remains lying at Forte's feet.

Forte stared at the pieces on the ground, his breathing labored. "Good riddance..." he murmured before he collapsed to the ground.

"Forte!" Netto yelled as he started to sprint towards the prone navi. In his rush, he didn't notice as something fell out of his pocket.

Finally reaching the navi's side, Netto held Forte's upper half in his arms as he stared at the navi's face. Checking over the navi's body, he looked at the numerous injuries and burns on Forte's body. The navi's entire back was scorched from protecting Netto from the blast. Already, Forte's eyes were half-lidded, a sign that he would be falling unconscious soon. "Forte, why! Why did you protect me?" he asked, his voice cracking.

Forte smirked at him. "Why are you even asking?" he let out weakly, slightly cringing in pain. "I saved you, didn't I?"

Netto's eyes threatened to spill over with tears. "Yes, you did...but look at you!" he choked out, tears already coursing down his face. "You're...you're dying..." Even he could see that Forte was dying; the navi had simply taken too many injuries.

"Human..." Forte whispered, almost unconscious. "You should know me by now...I always do...what I want to do." he stated before falling totally unconscious. Netto, seeing this, was startled.

"Forte...?" Netto whispered, shaking Forte. "Forte! Wake up!" he said with increasing volume. "Fin-head! Wake up!" he commanded silently. The navi didn't respond.

More tears coursed down Netto's cheeks. "No..." Netto murmured as he brought the body closer to his chest. "It wasn't supposed to be like this...we were supposed to go home together..." Netto whispered as Forte's breathing was diminishing. "We were supposed to go home, and I was going to ask you if you would like to stay...then maybe...Forte..." This time, Netto couldn't hold back his tears.

"FORTE!" Netto screamed out, his voice reaching the heavens.

---

Finally having enough, Yuna turned back to The Master. She had tears in her eyes as well. "Master, please! Allow me to go down there and help them!"

The Master regarded her with a cool look. "Why do you care so much about them Yuna? They are two insignificants in the universe, after all." he said with steel lacing his voice.

"No! They aren't!" Yuna nearly screamed. "No one is insignificant! If we divine beings are allowed to think that, then what use is there in watching and protecting over them?" she yelled out with tears running down her face. "Furthermore, all of this came about because of our disdain for the humans. If we do not correct that mistake, then all of this will happen once more..."

The Master blinked as Yuna bowed low before him. "Please, father! Let me help them in this time of need!" Yuna only addressed The Master as father when it was a matter of great importance.

The blond haired man suddenly smiled. "I see you have learned your lessons clearly, Yuna." he said while he helped Yuna up. "You are correct; we cannot allow ourselves to hate the very people we protect. That is why I shall allow you to go down and help the two of them."

Yuna looked up at The Master with a smile, tears still glistening in her eyes. "Thank you, father..." she said before she teleported out.

The Master remained staring at the spot where Yuna was only a second ago. "I have raised one daughter who is wise beyond her age and another who refuses to let go of the past..." he sighed, "I only hope it isn't too late for Sera." The Master said sadly as he made his way towards Sera's chambers for her punishment.

---

Netto remained kneeling on the ground with Forte's prone body close to his chest, sobbing. He couldn't do anything to help the navi, not even healing battle chips helped.

That was when he heard some footsteps behind him. Turning his head around, he saw a girl about his age with tanned skin and green hair in two pigtails approach him, sadly smiling. "Hikari Netto..."

Netto looked at her, surprised. "How do you know my name? And what are you doing here?" he growled out, wary of the new person. If the girl was scared, she didn't show it.

"Forgive me...I have been watching you all this time, and I couldn't do anything to help until now..." she said sadly. Netto's eyes widened in realization.

"You...you sound like that voice from before..." he muttered in shock before he shook his head. "But I can tell you aren't...you sound more kind..." Yuna smiled again.

"I am sorry for all the pains my sister, Sera, has brought upon you. I may have arrived too late to do anything about Geetz, but..." her gaze traveled down to Forte. "I can help save him. It is the least I can do for everything you two have gone through."

Netto stared at her, unbelieving. "You...you can help!" he stuttered. "Why should I trust you?"

"To trust me or not is up to you, Netto." Yuna said kindly, smiling at the boy. "And yes, I can help Forte...but..." she hesitated, as if unsure. "It is incredibly risky. It may not work..."

Netto glanced between her and Forte for a few seconds before he stood up. "Do whatever you have to do to save him." he stated with a hard edge to his voice, staring at her.

Yuna was startled. "You want to do this, even without knowing what you're about to do? This can potentially kill you!" she stated while looking at the boy.

Netto shook his head. "I'll do whatever it takes to save Forte's life...he saved mine, and now I'm going to save his." he muttered while looking at Forte's unconscious body. "Just tell me what I have to do."

Yuna looked hesitant before nodding. "Alright, I'll explain what you're about to do. We're going to link Forte's lifeforce to yours." Netto stared up at her in surprise.

"A link?" he repeated, somewhat startled. "Like the one between me and Rockman?"

Yuna shook her head. "Somewhat. This one is going to be different, though...with this link, Forte will be able to live because he'll be connected off of your own life. Anything that happens to him happens to you as well, and vice versa." she explained as she stared at Forte's prone figure. "However...the process of creating such a link is highly dangerous."

"What's the dangerous part about it?" Netto asked quietly, not taking his eyes off his partner.

"To create the link, both of the people involved must trust each other deeply...at the same time, both people will experience each other's memories and feelings at one time." she said, "That's the dangerous part about it; the sudden onslaught of memories and feelings may drive one or both people insane." Yuna explained before sighing. "Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

The brunette looked determined. "Yes."

Yuna smiled. "Alright then...just hold Forte close to you, and I will start the rest." Netto complied with the request as Yuna gathered some energy into her hand. "I have the fullest confidence in you, Netto...I know you won't fail."

The goddess then held out her finger and pressed it to the middle of Netto's forehead. "Alright, it begins..." Yuna breathed as she started the process.

The effects were immediate. Netto fell down to the ground screaming, clutching his head in pain. His eyes were clenched shut as he took in all the memories of Forte's life all at once. Screaming in pain again, he punched the ground as felt what Forte was feeling during each of those memories.

Netto could see when Forte was first created in the Science Labs. He could feel Forte's happiness as he trusted Dr. Cossack so completely. He then saw how the Science Labs ordered Forte's deletion, the fight, and Forte getting the scar across his navi emblem. He felt sadness, despair, then finally, rage.

He saw Forte's struggle to survive on his own in the Internet, deleting countless viruses and searching for a challenge. He finally came across the ruler of the Ura Net, Serenade. He saw the legendary battle between Forte and Serenade, and how Forte was nearly deleted from the fight. Netto then saw Forte wandering, searching for a reason for his existence, and his pledge that he would bring judgment to the human race.

Through Forte's memories, he could see what happened after the whole Proto incident. His near deletion, his merging with Gospel just to survive, and the struggle to survive once more. Netto couldn't comprehend how Forte survived with all the pain he had put up with.

Finally, Netto opened his eyes. Yuna gasped audibly; they were uncharacteristically cold. "Filthy humans..." he muttered lowly, "I shall bring judgment upon them..." Netto then shook his head and screamed again. "No! These are Forte's memories, not my own!" he panted out, his mind threatening to overload with everything that was shown to him. "I am Hikari Netto, not Forte!"

Yuna watched with surprise etched onto her features. "He's incredibly strong...he's fighting to keep his identity intact..." she said in wonderment.

Netto crawled over to Forte's body and took it into his arms again. "Forte!" he nearly yelled, "You're not dying, not if I have anything to say about it!"

That was when he fell unconscious.

Yuna looked shocked for a minute before she saw a faint glow outline both bodies. She then smiled. "It's beginning..." she said as she looked at the both of them. Suddenly, she looked horrified. "No! I completely forgot about the other link...!"

Making a quick decision, she walked over and put her hands on Netto's forehead. "Forgive me again, Netto...I must do this. If I don't cut the other link, then you will surely die..."

---

_Forte was floating somewhere. He didn't really care since he was dying, but everything around him was just a bright white color. _

_He didn't know what was going on at this point, though. All of a sudden, he had started to receive several images of Netto. He could make out through the hazy state his mind was in that these were memories, since they showed the boy when he was younger._

One memory in particular stuck out.

"_Mama?" a ten-year old Netto spoke up, "When is papa coming home?"_

_Haruka smiled down at her son, albeit sadly. "I'm sorry Netto, but he won't be home for another two weeks...he's off on assignment."_

"_Oh..." Netto looked downcast for a moment. Forte could see that the boy was fighting to not say anything or cry, but his whole demeanor changed in a moment. "Alright then! I'll just have to talk with papa when he comes home, huh?"_

_Rockman smiled from his PET. "That's the spirit, Netto-kun!" Netto grinned down at him._

"_Let's go on the net! I wanna show papa how good I'm at battling viruses when he comes back home!"_

_The memory ended right there, and Forte was left mulling over it._

_The thing that stuck out was that the memory wasn't a happy one. He actually felt what Netto was feeling; the sadness, the loneliness, and even hate against his father. Forte was surprised that someone like Netto could even feel hate._

_As more memories passed, Forte learned a bit more about the boy he had traveled with for the past 4 and a half months. He couldn't explain it, but he felt everything Netto had gone through. What shocked him the most was the amount of negative feelings that he had kept bottled up inside him._

"_Netto..." he murmured, "I didn't realize how alone he felt sometimes...his father is almost never there for him, except in times of crisis...he wants closure in a father figure, but since he almost never sees him at all, any problems he has is bottled up..."_

"_...Forte..." a voice came out of nowhere. The navi looked around in surprise._

"_Did someone call my name...?" he whispered out as he looked around._

"_Forte...!" the voice called out as Forte recognized it._

"_Netto? What are you doing here?" he asked as Netto floated closer to him._

_Netto didn't say anything as he enveloped Forte in a strong hug. "What...?" Forte let out, shocked._

"_Forte..." Netto said as he hugged the navi closer to his body, "All those horrible things you've seen...how could you deal with such pain?" he asked, closing his eyes._

_Forte felt something he had never felt before in his entire lifetime. Comfort. "I could ask you the same thing, Netto...how could you just keep to yourself like that, just keeping all the negative feelings to yourself?"_

"_I don't know..." Netto breathed, looking at Forte as he released the hug. "There are times I just want to spill out my feelings to my father, but I almost never see him..." he muttered sadly. "So I keep the pain inside...I thought if Rockman or anyone else didn't see me like that, then they wouldn't get worried about me." _

_Netto then stared Forte straight in the eye. "Were you looking for a reason for existence all along? Just something so you wouldn't feel insignificant?"_

_Forte nodded. "At that point...I felt alone. I just needed something for me to concentrate on, something to dedicate whatever life I had to...I chose the destruction of human kind." he muttered as he looked away. Netto smiled._

"_I don't blame you at all...I would have done the same thing." he replied as Forte looked at him, shocked. "But now, I want to ask you something..."_

_Holding out a hand, Netto extended it to Forte. "I want you to come with me when we get back home. I don't want you to feel the loneliness you have been feeling anymore..."_

_Forte eyed the hand skeptically. "But what about your father? And Rockman? What will they have to say?"  
_

_Netto smiled again. "We will deal with that as the time comes. So what do you say?" he asked, again extending the hand towards the navi. "Let's go home. Together."_

_Forte stared at the hand again before he took it within his own. "Yeah, lets go back...together."_

_Netto beamed at Forte, and to his surprise, Forte smiled back at him too. Vaguely, he felt something detach from him, as if it was being taken away, but he paid it no mind. He just hugged Forte again as he drifted off into unconsciousness, with Forte following quickly._

---

Yuna stood back up as the glow around the two bodies intensified. When it finally died out, Netto was holding Forte's PET tightly to his chest, with the unconscious form of the navi inside. Yuna sadly smiled.

"You two did it...now both of your lives are connected to each other, for better or for worse." she said as she placed her hand over Netto's unconscious form. "Now, I shall take the both of you back home. Both your fates have changed drastically, and both of you face many challenges ahead." she said gravely as she started to glow. "But for now, just rest. You have earned it."

And in a flash, both her and Netto were gone.

Just a few steps away from where the goddess stood before laid the forgotten blue headband with Rockman's symbol on it.

---

Rockman sat down and panted, resting after a quick spar with Blues. Silently, he thanked Roll for calling Blues to spar with him; it really got his mind off his troubles for a short while.

Blues sat down next to him, also panting. "You've gotten better." he remarked. Rockman smiled at him.

"Or you could have gotten worse." he replied before snickering. Blues only frowned at him.

"How are you holding up?" Blues asked, and Rockman slightly narrowed his eyes.

"I'm fine...I'm sure we'll find Netto-kun soon." Rockman replied, a bit icily.

Blues sighed. "Rockman, you can't keep beating yourself up over this. It wasn't your fault!"

"How can you say it wasn't my fault! Netto-kun got kidnapped under my watch, and I couldn't even do anything to help!" Rockman shot back, anger creeping up into his face. The blue navi then caught himself and sighed. "I'm sorry Blues...it's just been tough. No evidence has turned up, and I'm on edge..."

"It's understandable." Blues said as he patted Rockman on the shoulder, "It's only been a week, after all."

Rockman nodded. "Maybe you're right...I should give it some more time-" he cut off when he gasped and clutched at his chest.

Blues was startled. "Rockman! What's wrong!"

Rockman fell to his knees, clutching at his navi symbol. "T-the link...!" he gasped out, "It's been severed!" he let out as he quickly fainted.

Blues immediately called his operator. "Enzan-sama! Quickly get Dr. Hikari!"

"Blues, what happened?" Enzan asked urgently as he started to dial up Yuuichirou.

"Rockman has fainted, and he mentioned his link with Netto being severed!" Blues said quickly while picking up the navi.

"What!" Enzan exclaimed. "I'll hurry, just make your way towards the Hikari residence!"

Blues nodded as he picked up the pace. Quickly looking at the unconscious navi in his arms, he grimaced.

_If the link between Rockman and Netto has severed, then...something bad has happened._ Blues thought as he started sprinting towards the Hikari's network.

Something huge was about to happen, and Blues wasn't sure if he was going to like it.

---

**Author's Note:** Whee, one more chapter to go...

I managed to get this chapter out before the weekend, since I'll be busy. The final chapter will come out within a week.

Thanks go to Quatre Winner and JK Fie'r for betaing, and a special thanks for this chapter's beta, Neko Salosa.


	9. The End of a Long Road

Netto shook his head and blearily opened his eyes. He immediately rubbed his forehead, trying to ward off the headache that had arisen. He groaned as he sat up, looking around. Everything around him was white, as if he was just floating somewhere. His eyes suddenly widened in realization; this was what happened when he was brought to the other world!

"Hello, Netto." came a voice above him. Blinking, Netto looked up to see the girl's face staring down at him.

"Y-you..." he muttered in wonderment. The girl gave a small smile at him.

"Yes. I am sorry for all the trouble my sister has caused to both you and Forte..." she said while squatting down to look at him in the eye, "But for all that has happened, I cannot say if it was for better or worse."

Netto looked around again before looking at the girl again. "Where am I?" he groaned as he stretched a bit, wincing at how painful some of his joints felt, "And where are we going?"

The girl shook her head. "That's a secret." she winked, "However, for where we are going...I'm taking you home."

Netto's mouth opened in surprise. "Home?" he repeated, shocked. The girl nodded.

"Yes...I'm taking both you and Forte back to your world." she replied.

The boy looked down at the PET still clutched tightly in his hands. "Forte..." he murmured, staring sadly at it. "Tell me, is Forte going to be alright?" Netto asked. The girl smiled.

"He will be thanks to you. You saved his life by linking him to your lifeforce." she answered simply. "However...due to that, both of your fates have changed drastically...even I don't know what will happen now."

Netto blinked in confusion before putting forward a question. "Who are you anyways?"

The girl closed her eyes and smiled. "I am Yuna...I am the goddess that has been assigned to watch over your planet."

Netto gulped, a bewildered expression forming on his face. "A goddess?" he choked out, looking wide eyed at Yuna. "Gods and goddesses are real?

Yuna nodded. "Yes, they are very real." she giggled as she held up a hand to stop Netto from interrupting. "And for the record, the one who brought you to the other world was Sera." she said, frowning at the name of her sister.

Netto suddenly took on a thoughtful expression. "That big bird..." the brunette mumbled while looking down, "Geetz or whatever its name was...it said that someone named Sera ordered that we were to be killed. Why?"

The green haired girl stared at Netto sadly. "I'm going to be honest with you. Sera planned to eliminate you because she grew bored of just watching you."

There was silence as Netto stared disbelievingly at the goddess. "You're kidding me..."

Yuna only shook her head. "Unfortunately not." Netto then scowled at her, and to her surprise, the cold look in his eyes returned.

"So our lives are but a game to you?" he asked icily, glaring at her. "We are nothing more than playthings for your kind? Is that it?"

Yund suppressed a shiver. _It looks like this is one of the repercussions of the link..._ she thought. Drawing in a breath, she shook her head. "No, it's not. Sera went way beyond her jurisdiction and broke many rules in doing what she did."

"And why didn't you interfere earlier if that was the case?" Netto cut in, his eyes still having the cold look to them. When Yuna didn't answer, he snarled. "Answer me!"

Yuna winced at the boy's tone. "I'm sorry, Netto...but Sera also used some loopholes in the laws we follow to their full extent." she said while shaking her head. "Believe me, I did my utmost to help you two as much as possible without being caught...but I should have done more..." she said while looking down sadly.

Netto's eyes softened and lost the cold look to them. "You were helping us all along?" he asked, surprised.

The goddess nodded. "Yes. Sera was planning much worse for the two of you...I do not know why, though." she replied, smiling at Netto. "I'm sorry for not doing anything more to assist you two."

Netto stared at her for a long while before he sighed. "No, it wasn't your fault." he finally sighed, making the goddess look at him in surprise. "You said you were helping us along the way...does that mean you were responsible for how lucky I've been in getting stuff?"

Yuna nodded slightly, albeit hesitantly. "Well...a bit. I placed the card with the money inside your bag, and put the battle chips and charger at the junk shop. However, that was the most I could do without being discovered."

The brunette sighed. "I suppose it can't be helped..." he muttered. Yuna blinked.

"You're taking all of this in stride...why?" she questioned. Netto shrugged as he yawned.

"I don't know...I should be angry, but...I'm just so...tired..." he muttered as he laid down again, clutching Forte's PET tightly to his chest. Yuna stared at him sadly.

"I cannot ask that you forgive me, nor can I ask you to not think lowly of us. We've been doing more harm than good lately..." Netto merely looked at her.

"I know something that you can do to make amends." Netto said. When Yuna looked at him in surprise, he continued. "Help the people of the world I was taken to. That's all I ask."

Yuna blinked. "To help the people of that world...what exactly do you mean by that?"

Netto grunted. "It means exactly that. Just help them in any way possible, and I'll consider anything that you think you've done forgiven." Netto yawned again as he closed his eyes.

Yuna stared at him for a few moments before nodding. "I promise."

Netto grinned. "Thanks..." he said before clutching the PET again and drifting off to sleep. Yuna kept staring at him for a while before she turned around.

"I'll make sure that world is helped. Count on it." Yuna said softly before turning around. They were almost there.

---

Yuuichirou frowned as he kept typing away at the computer. What he was seeing wasn't making any sense at all.

Hours earlier, Blues had come into the house's network with an unconscious Rockman in his arms. Yuuichirou immediately took action and plugged Rockman into his personal computer and started a diagnosis. Enzan had arrived shortly thereafter and with Blues' help, managed to explain what happened.

That was what was puzzling the head scientist. The diagnosis had shown that there was nothing wrong with Rockman's system. Slightly frustrated, he had started an advanced scanning on Rockman's system, looking for anything that was odd.

To his dismay, there was still nothing showing up. The only oddity he saw was that the Saito.bat was still functional. If what Enzan and Blues were saying was true, then it didn't make any sense at all.

_Why is this happening?_ Yuuichirou thought to himself, _Rockman's system is fine, but from what Blues said, Rockman felt the connection between him and Netto being severed...but it shouldn't be possible! I made sure that the link established with the Saito.bat couldn't be broken at all..._ Sighing, the doctor rubbed at his temples. He was starting to get a headache.

Turning back to the computer, he continued typing. Although the computer didn't pick up on anything, he felt that something was off. He couldn't quite place his finger on it.

Suddenly, there was a knock at his door. "Come in!" he called out, not bothering to turn around. The door opened as he heard someone walk in.

"How's Rockman, Dr. Hikari?" came a voice. Yuuichirou turned around to see Enzan, who immediately sat down in the nearest chair.

"Ah, Enzan..." the doctor sighed, removing his glasses so he could rub his eyes, "Rockman is fine. However, from what you and Blues have told me, Rockman managed to say that the link was being severed as he collapsed, right?"

Enzan nodded. "Correct. Blues knows the full story himself, though, since he was there at the time." he said before rubbing at his forehead. "To be perfectly honest, I don't know much more than that. All Blues did was call me and brief me on what happened."

Yuuichirou shook his head. "Be sure to thank Blues for me. If he wasn't there..." he said while eying the PET on Enzan's waist. It seemed Blues was in rest mode for the time being.

Enzan stood back up and lowered his gaze to the ground. "I'm more worried about what happened to Netto. It's only been a week since he's gone missing, and then something like this happens. It isn't coincidence."

The brown haired doctor nodded. "You're right..." he muttered as he slumped backwards in his chair, "Whatever happened to Netto may have caused this." Yuuichirou then buried his face in his hands. "God, so many things are happening too quickly. Netto first goes missing and now this. It's getting to be a bit too much..."

Enzan opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by a loud explosion from outside. "What was that!" he exclaimed, momentarily knocked off his feet in surprise. Yuuichirou quickly grabbed the edge of the desk to keep himself from falling.

"I don't know..." he whispered as Haruka came into the room, somewhat shaken.

"Honey!" she cried as she stopped in the doorway, "That explosion sounded like it came from the park! What do you think happened?" Yuuichirou walked over to her and pulled her into an embrace.

"Enzan." he said while looking at the netbattler, "I want you to go phone the police. I don't know if they've been called or not, but better safe than sorry."

The boy opened his mouth to object, but instead nodded and headed out the door. However, instead of heading towards the phone, he put on his shoes and left the house, heading in the direction of the park.

"Enzan-sama?" Blues called from his PET. Enzan unhooked the PET from his waist and frowned. "Aren't you going to call the police?"

Enzan shook his head. "No, I'm not. Something is up, and I want to check it out." Blues didn't say anything more as Enzan sprinted towards the park.

He finally arrived there after a few minutes of non-stop running. Pausing to catch his breath, he looked around to see if anything was amiss. Oddly enough, he saw no smoke rising from anywhere. "What's going on?" he asked himself, starting to walk around, "If there was a huge explosion over here, then there should be lots of smoke..."

Enzan then heard some sirens in the distance. "It looks like the police are coming after all..." he murmured, "I should get out of here."

The netbattler started to run the opposite direction of where he came from when he notice a piece of cloth sticking out of the bushes. "What's this?" he muttered as he looked at it in the palm of his hand. Narrowing his eyes, he parted the bushes where he found the cloth and his eyes widened.

Sitting up against a tree, unconscious, was Hikari Netto.

After overcoming his initial shock, Enzan quickly leaned down to check the boy's pulse. He sighed in relief when he found one. "He's alive..." he said dazedly.

Taking his PET, he quickly contacted the ambulance. Enzan then decided it was better to get Netto out in the open, and started to drag him out of the bushes. It was at that time he noticed that Netto was wearing some strange clothes. Puzzled, he looked at the cloak the brunette was wearing for a few minutes.

"Enzan-sama!" Blues called out from his PET, making the netbattler snap out of his daze, "Maybe you should call Dr. Hikari and tell him what we've found?"

Enzan nodded. Immediately, he sent a call out to Yuuichirou's computer, hoping the scientist would pick up. Thankfully, he did.

"Enzan, where did you go?" Yuuichirou asked, slightly narrowing his eyes. "I thought something was up when you didn't answer..."

"Never mind that!" Enzan interrupted hastily, "I've just found something...or should I say someone?"

"What are you talking about?" the scientist asked in exasperation.

"This." With that, Enzan lowered the PET's screen to look upon the unconscious Netto.

Yuuichirou's eyes widened in shock. "Is that...?"

"Yes, it is." Enzan said while nodding. Yuuichirou blinked and ran a hand through his hair, looking relieved.

"Thank god!" he said while he started to smile. "Enzan, I trust that you already called the ambulance?" When he saw the boy nod, he continued. "Good. I'll meet you at the hospital then." With that, he cut off the connection. Sitting back in his chair, he let off a huge sigh. "We've found him..."

---

Yuna watching all the proceedings through an image in front of her. She was relieved when the one named Ijuin Enzan found Netto, thankful that he decided to check out what was happening instead of calling the police. Now both Netto and Forte were in good hands.

Dispelling the image, she needed to go see The Master. She had made a promise to Netto, and she was intent on fulfilling it. She found him in his chambers, merely staring at an image of the world that Netto had been on.

"Master?" Yuna asked tentatively, "May I ask something of you?"

The Master merely looked at her and smiled. "I already know what you're going to ask. You wish to help this world, don't you?" he said while pointing at the hologram. Yuna blinked.

"Yes...I was. How did you know?"

The Master chuckled. "I have my ways. Anyways...I've been wanting to help this world for a long time as well. Now that Sera has been relieved of her duties, however, this world is now without a guardian." he murmured. Yuna merely stared at him.

"You need a new guardian for that world, correct?" When she saw The Master nod, she stepped forward. "I volunteer for the task, Master. I wish to make up for the mistakes Sera has made." The Master only stared at her critically for a few moments before sighing.

"I was expecting that..." he remarked as he turned towards her, "Overseeing two worlds is a difficult task, and I want to make sure that you're completely serious about this. Are you sure you want to be the guardian of both worlds?"

Yuna thought it over for a few seconds before she nodded. "Yes. I made a promise and I intend to keep it."

"I see..." he murmured as he walked back over to the image, "Alright, I now appoint you to the post of guardian for this world."

Yuna bowed low. "Thank you, Master."

The Master smiled. "Ah, but we're not done yet..." he chuckled as he gathered some energy into his hand. "If I recall, you wanted the world to be helped, right?" seeing the goddess nod, he smiled again. "Very well then..." The Master said as he touched the hologram with his glowing hand.

---

"Mommy! Daddy!" Michiru cried as she ran into her parent's bedroom, "Something is happening outside!"

Karin looked at her daughter in confusion. "What's happening, Michiru?" The girl kept silent as she looked between her parents.

Shinta blinked as he looked at his child. "Tell us what's going on, Michiru." he said.

Michiru shook her head. "I have to show you! Come on!" she said as she rushed towards the door. Both parents looked at each other and shrugged, following their daughter out and up onto the surface.

When they got outside of the ruined building, they gasped.

"W-what is this...?" Karin gasped, her eyes wide as dinner plates.

"Impossible..." Shinta breathed, staring upwards.

Michiru smiled. "It's so beautiful..."

Above them, the sky was blue again.

---

Yuuichirou, Haruka, and Enzan were in the waiting room in the hospital, waiting on a doctor. Haruka was silently crying, but they were tears of happiness. Yuuichirou looked relieved, and Enzan looked like he wanted to lie down somewhere and sleep. Finally a doctor walked out into the room, where the three immediately swarmed him.

"Calm down you three!" the doctor laughed as he held up his hands in a placating mannet, "Netto is fine; he's just really exhausted."

Haruka smiled as the tears kept running down her cheeks. "Thank you, doctor."

The doctor smiled as he turned towards Yuuichirou. "He may be fine, but we would like to keep him in for an additional day just to monitor him, just in case we missed something the first time. Is that alright?"

The scientist nodded. "It would be alright."

Enzan then yawned. Haruka checked her watch and looked startled. "It's past midnight already!"

Yuuichirou chuckled. "Really?" he said as he stretched a bit, "Doctor, can we spend the night in Netto's room? We want to be there when he wakes up."

The doctor smiled. "Of course." he chuckled, "We'll make some preparations and then show you to his room. I won't be but a few minutes." the doctor said while heading back through the door.

Yuuichirou let out a huge sigh of relief. "He's going to be okay…" he murmured happily. Quickly unhooking the PET off his waist, he rebooted it just in time to see Rockman waking up.

The blue navi groaned as he awoke, shaking his head to clear his mind. "Papa?" he asked in surprise when he saw the scientist's face, "What happened?"

Yuuichirou slightly frowned. "I don't really know, Rockman…you suddenly collapsed and Blues brought you to me. I ran some scans, but I couldn't find anything wrong with your system." He saw Rockman look at him, bewildered.

"That can't be right!" Rockman cried, looking at the scientist with wide eyes, "Before…I felt my link with Netto being cut somehow…it just happened so suddenly!"

Yuuichirou sat back in his chair and took a thoughtful expression on his face. "Maybe the shock of it caused you to temporarily faint…" he said while shaking his head, "But I have some good news for you, Rockman."

"You do?" the blue navi asked, looking confused.

"We've found Netto!" Yuuichirou said happily, smiling down at Rockman. The blue navi looked shocked.

"R-really!" he asked in surprise. When he saw the scientist nod, he smiled happily. "Netto-kun is safe…where is he?"

Yuuichirou turned the PET so the screen was facing the door the doctor had gone through. "Right now, we're inside the hospital. Netto is resting in a room, and the doctor is going to escort us there shortly."

Rockman sighed in relief. That was when the doctor returned.

"Alright," he announced, "we've got everything set up so you can spend the night. I'll lead you to the room he's in."

"Thank you, doctor." Haruka said softly as she followed the doctor into the hallway. Enzan was right behind her, yawning again. It seemed that the boy hadn't slept much over the past couple of days. Yuuichirou couldn't blame him.

"So Rockman, are you ready to see Netto?" he asked. Rockman nodded fervently.

"Of course!" he said while smiling. Yuuichirou chuckled and followed Enzan out into the hallway, eager to see his son again.

---

Netto shifted slightly as he groaned and opened his eyes. He was in some sort of dark room, lying on a bed. Looking around, he stared outside a window as he spotted some large buildings in the distance. He also saw various hospital equipment scattered around the room.

"I'm home..." he whispered to himself, almost unbelievingly. Blinking a bit, he noticed that he wasn't wearing his cloak. Turning his head a bit, he saw it hanging on a clothes hanger nearby. He then spotted Forte's PET on the nearby table, which he then grabbed hastily and turned it on.

The PET fully booted up, and Forte was there on the screen, waking up. Netto smiled. "Forte...you're alright..."

The cloaked navi blinked and looked around. "Where are we?" he questioned, looking around the dark room.

"We're home." Netto said simply as he sighed and fell back against the pillows. "It's almost unbelievable..."

"Maybe, but we're back. That's all that counts, right?" Forte stated as he looked at his operator. Briefly, he wondered when he started calling him that, but he quickly shrugged it off.

"I suppose..." Netto sighed as he continued looking out the window. Some minutes passed before he turned his attention back to the ceiling. "What do you think is going to happen now, Forte? Where do we go from here?"

Forte was silent for a moment before he answered. "I do not know. I think that all lies up to what happens in the days to come."

"Possibly..." Netto murmured before letting out a slight yawn. "But we'll leave it for tomorrow...for now, let's just sleep. I'm really tired..." he let out before closing his eyes. "Good night, Forte." Netto said before falling asleep.

Forte stared at him for a few seconds before he shut his PET down. "Good night, Netto-kun." He murmured before initiating his sleep mode.

---

"Alright, he's in here." The doctor said as he opened the door to the room, "As you can see, we don't have many things to accommodate you three, but…"

"It's alright doctor…" Yuuichirou cut in, "We'll manage. We're not going to be sleeping that much tonight anyways since we're worried about Netto."

The doctor sighed and nodded. "Very well then. I'll return in the morning when he wakes up. I'll see you all then." With that, he bid the three of them a good night and left the room.

Yuuichirou, Haruka, and Enzan immediately crowded around the bed to look at the sleeping boy. The brunette was sleeping peacefully under the covers, only lightly breathing. Haruka shared a relieved smile at Yuuichirou and Enzan.

"He really is alright…" she breathed, smiling happily. "It's almost unbelievable that he's come back unharmed."

The scientist nodded. "I know…but I want to know what happened to him."

Enzan yawned again before he headed over to the couch to sit down. "I want to know what happened too, but he can tell us tomorrow, I suppose." Haruka smiled at him.

"Go to sleep, Enzan." she said, "You look like you're about to topple over." Haruka held up a hand to silence him; "And don't worry, Yuuichirou and I will watch Netto for you. Just get to sleep."

Enzan found that he couldn't object to her. Saying good night to both Hikaris, he laid down on the couch and fell asleep almost instantly.

Yuuichirou then brought out Rockman's PET and held it up so the blue navi could see his operator. Rockman smiled upon seeing the brunette in bed. "Netto-kun…"

That was when he noticed something. Netto wasn't wearing his bandanna. Rockman frowned; he knew Netto cherished the thing and wouldn't take it off unless he was forced to. Shrugging, the navi figured that Netto could explain it later.

However, he couldn't shake the feeling of unease that suddenly came upon him. Looking at Netto again, he gasped when he saw something slightly peek out of the covers before disappearing again.

"Rockman?" Yuuichirou questioned, looking at the screen, "What's wrong?"

The navi was about to tell the scientist what he saw before he shook his head. "Nothing, papa…I was just thinking. I'm going to turn my PET off for the night, if that's alright." Yuuichirou sighed as he nodded before he turned back to the bed.

Rockman narrowed his eyes slightly as he prepared to shut down his PET. The thing he saw in Netto's hands was certainly a PET from what he saw. However, what bothered him the most was the insignia that was on it.

Frowning a bit, he shut his PET off. _Netto…what has happened that you're suddenly carrying around Forte's PET?_ he thought before it fully shut off, _Tomorrow will be when all our questions are answered…_

_...but will I like the answers?_

---

**Next time:**

**Summary of the Sequel, 'Affinity':** Netto and Forte have finally returned home, but now they both must face upcoming challenges. Netto must struggle with Forte's memories, while Forte tries to reintegrate into Net Society. Furthermore, both must prove to the Science Labs that they are trustworthy.

Meanwhile, in the deepest areas of the Ura Net, a malevolent energy grows as parts of the Ura Net are thrown into chaos. What is happening there…?

All this and more in the sequel!

---

**Author's Note:** Well, here we are at the end of a long road. Thank's for reading everybody!

I would especially like to thank JK Fie'r and Quatre Winner for betaing my chapters all the way through. And a special thanks to Neko Salosa for betaing for me while I was in a hurry.

As for the story…yes, I know I left some plot details wide open. That was intended. This chapter is intended to lead right into the sequel, which will answer some questions that I have left unanswered.

Unfortunately though, the sequel will have to wait for some time. I now have other duties to attend to, and I'm putting off writing until I can get some stuff in order. See my LiveJournal for more details.

Anyways, thanks go to everyone who put up with my delays in writing and continued reading. I appreciate it!

Alright, see you in the sequel!


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